


TOH borrower AU

by BullfinchTheNoble



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: G/T, Gen, Incomplete, borrower au, borrower luz, discontinued
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26443387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BullfinchTheNoble/pseuds/BullfinchTheNoble
Summary: An au where Luz is a forest borrower who has a wild fascination with house borrowers.
Comments: 55
Kudos: 47





	1. Meeting the really cool Borrower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Camilia keeps forgetting to let Luz meet the house borrower, so Luz decide to take matters into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some important things about this AU!
> 
> Necessary to know to understand the story better:
> 
> This is inspired by... I actually don't know where the concept of borrowers come from, but I know it's some book  
> Either way, Borrowers are pretty much small humans that live in human houses, and take things humans won't miss or won't notice if it disappears.  
> Borrowers call humans "beans". I think the reason is that they heard "human beings" wrong, and ended up just calling them "beans". I have decided that borrowers do know that "beans" call themselves humans, but it's a language thing. Like bin and garbage can, but way less understandable. (If there's anything that goes against that; please tell me so I can fix it. I only proofread the chapters; not the entire story)  
> Humans know about borrowers existing in this universe, but general rules still apply. Rules will be explained in the story itself eventually.  
> Luz lives in a northern area; this is something I have no idea what it's like in canon.  
> (I might get some things wrong, but let's just say it's part of my AU)
> 
> The owl house related things:
> 
> Eda isn't cursed, so she's a redhead.  
> Just because I can; every character has their natural hair color. So the Blight twins have natural green hair.  
> Hooty and King aren't going to be in here, and neither is Owlbert. It's only going to be the most humanoid characters, but Belos... I'm not sure if I can fit him in either.  
> Can't make Luz and Camila speak spanish, because I don't speak it myself and don't really trust google translate  
> not that the two are going to be together for very long, but... onto the story!

Luz was, and had always been, a wild borrower. She lived out in the forest with her mother.

However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious about what life was like with the human beans. She had never even seen the inside of a bean nest before; her mother said it was too dangerous. To quote her mother; “In nature you know the fox is going to eat you, but a bean is unpredictable.” It had been a bit of a shock when she first heard it, but she understood it. In some ways anyways.

Sometimes two beans, both with strange colored hair wandered through the forest. On with hair the color overripened raspberries, and with the color of the trees that surround them. Not just green; it looked like small, soft, trees were sprouting from her head. The two looked like friends, but whenever they chatted there seemed to be a coldness to the green one’s words.

That must have been what her mom meant… Beans didn’t even like their friends, so what would they do to borrowers like her?

She heard her mother’s voice call out to her. She had been staring longingly out at the bean’s huge nest from an orange autumn bush. She looked down at her, sighing. “Coming!” She swung down on one of the twigs to the next. As soon as she was back down, she gave her a hug. “Hi mom!”

“I got the cloth from Eda,” said her mom, before letting go of her. “We can head home now.”

That… wasn’t what Luz wanted to hear… “Didn’t you promise I was going to meet her?” Her head hung low, knowing that her mom had forgotten to ask. Again.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry; I forgot…”

“It’s fine; there’s always next time…” though, it hurt she chose to ignore it. She had seen glimpses of the redheaded borrower before. And she looked really cool, just from a distance. And she would never tell her mother this, but she knew how the borrower got in and out of the house.  
Also, the fact that she already had a plan to sneak in that night.

Her mom brought her in for another hug. “I promise I’ll remember next time.”

But Luz knew she wouldn’t need a next time. She would see the house borrower before the sun rose.  
Still she kept up her sad act. “Okay…”

Her mom gave her a little forehead kiss. “Now let’s go home…”

Luz took a last look at the house. _I **am** going to meet that Edalyn,_ she thought, before turning around.

As soon as they got to their home, Luz saw her mom bring out the severed leg of a mouse. “Mouse meat!” she shouted in excitement. That was a rare, but delicious, meal in their home. Usually they lived off bugs and berries. In the winter times, they survived off a storage of nuts. “It has been so looong!” she was already drooling at the thought of the meal.

Her mom smiled at her. “It was a gift from Eda.” She got out a sharp piece of rock and began skinning it. “She tested herself that it wasn’t poisoned by the beans.”

She had tried poisoned mouse before… they both nearly died… It was only due to insane luck they both survived. “Are we keeping the skin this time?” Last time, they had given it to Eda as a gift. Luz had seen her with a bag that looked like mouse hide. “I want a bag like hers…”  
Her eyes widened, realizing she spoke over herself. “I mean, I have seen her in the distance before, but I still want meet her for real!”

Her mom let out a little laugh. “I know you do,” she replied in her sweet voice. “But, no, I promised to give her the skin. So, when I’m done; pin it on the stretching board, and scrape off the leftover meat.”

Luz nodded; she was used to doing stuff like that. Any wild borrower was; it was an important task.  
She went over to find the thing they used to stretch the skin on. It was made of bean cloth thread, and twigs, but any sort of thread would have worked. Most wild borrowers used the tendons of the animal, they had caught.

But it was going to take a while before her mom would be ready, and with no other chores; she went and took a nap. Still planning her evening expedition.

Hours later her mom shouted for her again. It wasn’t angry just… loud. She got up, stretching a little. Before, once again, yelling, “Coming!”

It took her little time to strap the skin onto the thing; the hard part was getting the meat off. But in some ways, it was a reward in itself. Raw mouse meat was good too.

She used a special cut rock, only meant for scraping meat off. It was tedious, but trying to get as much off in one piece was fun too. She shared the pieces with her mother from time to time, while she worked on cooking up a soup. “Did Eda really give you this as a gift? You didn’t trade her for it or anything?”

“Yes, of course, she really cares about us,” her mom replied. “How else would she get a fresh supply of nuts?” Her mom laughed. _It must be an inside joke…_ Her tone shifted back to her normal mom voice. “She’s a very kind lady, Luz. Even if she won’t act like it, when you first meet her.”

She heard a sigh from her mom. “I hope, that she’ll like me,” said Luz, not letting her mom know how soon she would know that. “Do… Do you think I could be a house borrower?”

There was an awkward silence between them. “I don’t know…” said her mom, very reluctant to answer. “There are a lot of rules to that… and you’re not good with those.”

Luz didn’t like the answer, but she knew her mom was right. She wanted to argue, but she kept her mouth shut. She continued working on the skin, but it was almost cleaned of completely. She gave the last pieces to her mom, as a sorry. Because she was still planning to get into the bean nest.

Soon, dinner was ready. Big piece of meat both in and on the side of the soup. It was very filling, more than usual. Like everything beside nuts; it had to be eaten all at once, or else it would go bad. “woah, I’m stuffed,” she said, falling backwards dramatically. “Can I go to sleep now? I’m really tired, from all the work.”

“you already had a nap,” her mother stated.

Luz gave her mom an absolutely exhausted look. “Please? I’ll work even more tomorrow…”

“I wasn’t saying no, sweety.” Her mom kissed her forehead once again, before letting her walk off to her sleeping spot. “Goodnight, Luz, I’m proud of you!”

Luz smiled. “Goodnight, mom, I love you…”

When Luz woke up her mom was laying snoring beside her. She was lucky her mom was a heavy sleeper, otherwise, this never would have worked. She carefully stepped out in the open, hoping that no nocturnal animals were out hunting in the area. An owl would be the worst-case scenario.  
She knew how quiet on their wings they were; she had seen one snag up a mouse before. It had just swooped down in a second, and then there was no more mouse. At least not in the spot it was before, and definitely not alive. She shivered.

But there was no reason to worry about that; they had never seen it, or even heard it, since. Besides she had already decided she was going through with this.

She kept under as much foliage as she could. The mouse had been in the open; she wasn’t going to make the same mistake.  
She kept a fast and steady pace, running from small bush to tree root. She listened for the sign for owls or foxes, but nothing hit her ears. Not a hooting or even a rustle of leaves under a careful hunter’s paws. It was safe to continue.

Soon she stood in front of the house, in absolute awe of its size. She was about to climb into the bush, she usually sat in, when she heard a weird jingle of bells. _That’s weird…_ She had heard bells before and knew what they were, but there were no beans around.

It was quick, but not very rhythmic. Just a constant clinking, that slowly fading into the distance. With the noise, gone she went for the house.

It was even cooler when she stood next to it. But no reason to risk being caught by bean a who couldn’t sleep. _Do beans even sleep in the night_? She questioned. She shrugged it off; there was no reason to stay there and find out.

She crouched in the entrance of the house; she had seen Eda use. For a second time this evening, she hesitated. What if she did get caught by the beans? It wasn’t because she was going to stay there long; she was just going to meet Eda, and then run back.

But she no longer had time to pondered as the jingling returned and something _big_ missed her by an arm’s length.  
She squealed in fright and ducked inside the hole. She only looked back when she realized the creature couldn’t follow her. A massive sharp-clawed white paw was reaching inside the hole for her. If that thing had gotten her, she would have been impaled on the spot.

She had never seen anything like it… It was so… sharp. She gulped at the thought of how close that had been.

She looked around the room, seeing a little hand-crafted ladder going to the wall. That must have been where Eda got in and out of this… place. She wasn’t sure what to call it; it wasn’t where Eda lived, that was for sure. It was definitely under the inside of the beans nest.

She watched, as the creature pulled its terrifying paw back. And started to make a weird, high-pitched, slightly bird-like noise. Me-e-e-e, it sounded from outside the hole.

Her heart was beating out of her chest. _What does that noise mean?_ She didn’t want to stay there any longer, and scrambled up the ladder.

The ladder let up to a room filled with weird, but cool things. Really weird, big, long and smooth strings lined the place she was in. She ran her hand over them, surprised by their texture. Her sweaty palm squeaked against them. She was already forgetting about the sharp-clawed beast that tried to kill her.

_What are these things?_ She wondered in amazement. They weren’t alive, by the looks of it. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were used for. _Do they even have a use? Maybe that’s how the beans warm up their nests._ But they weren’t warm to the touch.

She decided to hurry along. She still had to find the mysterious and cool house borrower. She laughed in her head. _Eda sounds so cool…_

There was another much longer ladder in front her, but the path still continued. She was getting a little worried. _This place is going to be really big…_ she thought. She looked at the path ahead, but decided to climb the ladder.

When she was finally up there; she realized she had entered into a part of a real bean nest! She covered her mouth, trying not to shriek in excitement. Still, a little noise escaped her.

There were so many big things in there! Big, shiny, grey sharp things hung on the walls, looking a lot like the rock her mom used for skinning. Really big grey and also shiny bowl were in an also grey and shiny bowl with a weird thing sticking out from it. Clear water was dripping from the tip.

She stared at it all in amazement, before spotting the thing she came here for.  
Her eyes widened in excitement. She saw Edalyn climbing up over the platform she was standing on. It took everything in her not to shout the other borrower’s name.

There was a couple of seconds, before Eda noticed her. But when she did, she gasped, before she went to attack her.

“wait, Eda, stop!” She managed to keep a somewhat quiet tone in her panic. Eda stopped as soon as she heard her name, but Luz continued. “I’m Camila’s daughter.”

While Eda wasn’t attacking her anymore; she still grabbed a tight hold of her arm. “Quiet!” she hissed in a whisper. “One of the beans are sleeping on the couch tonight!”

“on the what nowmhm!” Eda brought her hand over her mouth. She struggled against her grip, but Eda was stronger.

“What did I just say!” She hissed out again, dragging Luz back towards the hole, behind the weird thing with a handle on it. “If you get us caught, I _will_ use you as a distraction!” The adult borrower lifted her down on the ladder by her arms, still holding her hand on her mouth. “Climb down.” Eda commanded.

Luz listened, and quickly began her descent. She couldn’t help but find this thrilling. Beans, in her mind, still weren’t as scary as wild animals. Wouldn’t a chance to survive be better than instant death?

As soon as the two borrowers were on the end of the ladder, Eda grabbed ahold of her again. “now what do you think you’re doing here?” There was a growl to the redhead’s voice, making Luz cower. “I seriously doubt your mom sent you here.”

Luz knew she had to tell the truth. “I wanted to meet you… And see the beans nest…” That was a reason she hadn’t even fully admitted to herself.

Eda’s expression softened a tiny bit. “How did you find your way in here?” Her tone was a little more forgiving now. She glanced behind her. “Was it the hole down there?”

Luz nodded. Her heart skipped a beat think of the beast that had nearly killed her. “Yes, but I can’t go home that way.”

The older borrower lifted an eyebrow at her. “Why not?”

“Something tried to kill me before I got here,” spoke Luz, shivering at the memory. “It sounded like it had a bell with it, and it had really sharp claws!” Luz was grabbed by her own story telling and made a pose, that made her fingers look like long claws. “Before that I was just-”

Eda cut her off. “Too loud,” she snarled.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “But I have a feeling it’s waiting for me down there. And it made a really strange sound when it couldn’t get me. It sounded like this-” she imitated the noise she had heard, “-I didn’t know what it meant, so I just decided to run up here…”

“That sounds like you met a cat,” said Eda, staring her down. “You’re lucky that you’re still alive.” Once again, Luz cowered. “But, you’re right, the cat could still be hanging around here… I can’t believe I’m saying this…” The adult groaned. “You’re staying here for the night.”

Luz had to hide her excitement. Staying here? Inside a beans nest? Like a real house borrower? Her heart was beating a hundred times a second. She covered up a squeal of excitement once again. She bounced on her legs, grinning from ear to ear.

“wipe that stupid smile off your face,” she said, sighing loudly. “you going home as soon as it’s safe. Or, well, safe _r._ ”

Still Luz had a hard time, not to screech out of joy. This was the greatest moment of her life! She followed Eda through the tunnel in the walls, until they reached the place where she lived. “I’m going back out to borrow, you better stay here.”

How could she want to leave? There were so many new things to look at! Like a weird red colored branch, with a black tip. She went over to it, curios as to what it was, and lifted it up.  
It was heavier than she expected, not heavy enough that she couldn’t lift it; she was too strong for that. As she got a closer look, she realized what it was. It the entirety of the thing they used to write with! It was a pencil! As soon as that was cleared up in her mind, she went over to a small basket made of paper filled with pencil tips. She took one up and looked at it; it was amazing she could have so many of them.

It was cool how much stuff the borrower had. She eventually found some of the nuts her mother had used for trading. She didn’t touch them; they weren’t hers. And it wasn’t like she was hungry anyways.

In the corner of the room; there a needle, it was made of the same stuff the big bowls and sharp things were. Beans seemed to be really fond of that stuff… She picked it up and sat down on the bed, that was made off the same cloth Eda traded with them.

As she looked down, her mind wandered to her home… She was staying here for the night… Would her mother worry about where she was? She laid down on the soft bed, letting herself think about it a bit more. Maybe she could get home before she woke up? She hadn’t really thought about what to do if a cat had blocked her only way out.

She sighed before she got up to look around a little more. She quickly realized that a lot of the stuff laying around was the same things just in different types of holders.  
That day, even with all her sleeping, had been exhausting. She looked longingly at the soft bed, wondering if it was alright that she slept there. _Why not? Eda isn’t here right now._ She plopped down in the soft bed, bringing the blanket over her. _She only said to stay here… not that I couldn’t sleep in her bed._ She quickly dozed off in a comfortable sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very open to sugestions of what's going to happen in here!  
> I hope this au catches on! I want more G/t fanfics of the owl house! Also tell me if you think anybody is acting out of character! <3  
> I want to know how to get better at writing them!
> 
> Constructive critism is greatly appreciated! <3


	2. Away from Mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz gets up to some bad news; she has a hard time dealing with it.

Luz woke up the sound of footsteps entering the room. Groggily, she looked at where the noise was coming from. Seeing Eda made her wake up immediately. “Eda!” she shouted, getting out of her bed. _Oh man, I hope it was okay I slept there._

For some reason Eda looked… sad? “Hey, kid, I got some bad news…”

Luz looked at her in confusion. She had just woken up; what could have gone wrong? Luz hesitated, before asking the question. “What is it?”

Eda avoided looking Luz in the eyes. “The beans have sealed all the holes to the forest.”

Luz’s ears twitched, in denial of what they had heard. “What?” She must have heard wrong… Why would the holes suddenly be sealed shut? _Eda has to be joking! How am I going to get back to my mom?_ “That’s not true!”

“If you don’t believe me; we can go look.”

That made Luz freeze up; why would Eda follow, if she wasn’t serious? “okay…”

The walk to the place Luz had entered was long and silent. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. She knew Eda wasn’t lying; she just didn’t want to believe it before she saw it with her own eyes. It made her feel ill.

 _What is my mom going to think?_ She was more worried about her mom than herself. Two equally horrible thoughts popped into her mind at once. Those being, _that I’ve been eating by an animal_ , and _I’ve been taken by a bean_. But her mind mixed them together creating a much worse alternative, as she pictured it. _That I have been eaten by a bean?_

Despite how disgusting and bizarre the thought was; she couldn’t help but laugh. It was out of stress, of course, but it made it funny to her. She immediately apologized to Eda. “Sorry, I’m…” she couldn’t finish the sentence at first in her disoriented mind. “Sorry, I’m being so loud.”

Eda nodded, but didn’t say anything as they continued walking.  
It was barely a minute later before they reached the spot. Eda gestured for her to climb down there. And so, she did; not at all surprised when no light entered from where there once was a hole. She stood and stared for a while. Still unsure what to make of it.

She almost jumped, when Eda spoke up. “You can always wait until the beans forget to close the door.”

She didn’t believe that was ever going to happen, but it was better than nothing. “So, I’m living here now, huh,” she stated simply. If it wasn’t for the circumstances; she would have been ecstatic, but with how things were… There was nothing to be excited about.

Eda sighed. “What’s your name, kid?” she asked, before mumbling something under her breath.

“My name is Luz,” she replied. She had never been without her mom. She kept looking at the sealed wall, as if looking at it would make it disappear. _It’s not permanent…_ she chose to try and think positively. _You will go home at some point._ It didn’t help much, but if she kept it up, maybe, eventually, she could convince herself.

Eda snapped her out of her thoughts. “That’s right. I was stuck on it either being that or Liz.” The redhead stretched. “Well, Luz, I’m gonna go up and get some food before bedtime, join me, if you want.”

“Alright!” she replied, in a forced cheery tone, before watching Eda leave. She sighed. At least she had told her mom she loved her before she left. _I wonder if she’s still proud of me after this…_ There was no point dwelling in it. _If not, I’ll work my hardest to make her._  
She took one last glance at the wall, before hurrying up the ladder to join Eda.

Eda sat by a small table, with a cracked open nut and… something Luz had never seen before. “You want some?” Eda held the weird stuff out to her. “Have you had bread before?”

“No.” Luz hesitated for a bit, but ended up taking it out of her hands. She took a bite out of it. It was… okay… Nothing spectacular; not like the flavor burst of a wild blackberry. Still, she took another bite. “Thank you.”

“Eh, I guess it’s my new job to take care of you for now,” she replied with a shrug. “I kinda owe your mom one anyways.” She drank from a bottle cap. “She’s helped me out a lot in the past.”

Luz felt how dry her mouth was. “Can I get something to drink too?”

Eda shoved the water over to her. “It’s going to taste different from what you usually drink.”

She took a small sip of it. She was right. It tasted less fresh, but she was thirsty and couldn’t afford to be picky. “It does taste strange,” she said, once she was done drinking.

Eda nodded. “Dew drops and rain are better.” She got up. “I’m going to bed; we’ll talk again when I wake up.”

Luz watched her lay down on the bed she had slept on just a few minutes ago. _Would it be weird of me to stare?_ She decided to just turn away with a sigh.

She sat like that for ten minutes, tops, but Eda had begun snoring after two. _I wonder if she would mind me exploring the walls on my own?_ It could help distract her from what had just happened. And she had to learn her way around somehow… Maybe she could even see how a bean acted in their nests!

The thought by itself reeled her up.

Not long after, she was eagerly climbing the ladder to place she had been last night. She had the biggest grin on her face.  
She decided to listen for beans, before popping out of her hiding spot. It was a good thing she did; there was definitely something walking around in there. Her ears turned a tiny bit towards the sound. The bean wasn’t lifting their feet properly. They were dragging them along the floor.

She really wanted to take a peek to see what they were doing; that was a stupid and dangerous thought, but... _What are the chances I’m gonna get caught anyways?_ She risked slowly peering out from behind her cover.

It was the girl with the green and brown hair. _Oh no,_ Luz thought. She knew how mean that girl could be. _Not her!_ She had seen how she lashed out at her “friends”. The fact that it was her made her duck down again immediately.

She heard the girl walking over to her hiding place. Her eyes widened. _Did she see me?_ But as soon as the thought hit her, she heard her open the thing she was hiding behind. _No, she didn’t…_ still she held her breath. She didn’t want her to realize she was there.

She covered her ears as the bean suddenly shouted. “Ed! Where did you leave the sugar? It’s not in the cupboard!”

 _Cupboard_ , Luz’s mind echoed. _That’s what I’m hiding behind._ She nearly jumped when it slammed shut, she bit her teeth together, and barely avoided letting out a shriek. She was frozen in fear at the power of the bean.

A deeper voice responded to her question. “Relax, Mittens, you’re going to break something! It’s in the living room!”

The nearest bean let out a groan. “Why would you leave it in there?” she snarled at the other voice. “How do you keep track of _anything_?” She could hear the bean leave the room for whatever it was she wanted. “The living room!”

Luz took a moment to catch her breath, while the bean was gone, before scampering back down the ladder.

As soon as she was back down, she let out a relieved sigh. _She didn’t find me… I’m never going to do that again…_ She started walking back towards Eda’s room.

But once she was in there she couldn’t sit still. There was nothing to _do_. Out in the forest there was always _something._ Even those nights she couldn’t sleep; she could always find something to get done on her own. _Maybe I could go for a walk? Just in the walls this time._ The last thought was more to comfort herself. She didn’t want to see the angry girl again. The thought made her shiver. _No, I’m staying here…_

It turned out; that was also unbearable, but at least not dangerous. She really wanted to just wake Eda up, but it hadn’t been that long. And how would she respond to a kid, that she didn’t even know, waking her up just because she was bored? That would be a stupid decision.

She sat down, drumming her hands on the table. She was… kind of hoping she would accidently wake Eda up. But even if she didn’t, it was something to waste her time on.

After a couple minutes; her fingers started hurting, but nothing else really helped take her mind off things.

She sighed, letting her hands rest. She already missed her mom, even if it had barely been a couple waking hours. Her mom had always been within a run’s length… _I guess she still could have been, if I hadn’t been so stupid._

She looked at the nut on the table. There was still some of it left in its shell. She took it out, giving it a small nibble. It helped comfort her a little. It tasted like home; it reminded her of sitting close to her mom one cold night trying to keep warm, while they ate nuts together.

She slowly ate the rest, hoping it was alright with Eda. It made her feel a little better, especially after the incident with the bean. She thought about it… _Is that girl’s name? Mittens?_ That had been what the other bean called her. _Mittens,_ she repeated in her head. Now she had a name placed for the scary girl with the tree like hair.

Mittens was scary. She had slammed the cupboard, just because she couldn’t find something. Luz shivered at the though of that anger being directed at her. She imagined horrible things, remembering how the cupboard had _shaken_ from the force it had been closed with.

She felt nauseous, when she thought about what could have happened. _If I had been found…_ It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She didn’t want to finish the thought.

It was tough for her to wait. There was nothing to do to clear her head! The stale air didn’t help with it. She looked down the way into the walls, before she began walking down it again.  
  


She ended up pacing up to the second ladder and back to Eda’s room. Back and forth non-stop. She _couldn’t_ stop; if she stopped there was nothing else to do! Nothing to distract her! _This is too much!_ She pulled her hood over her head, as she walked even faster. It was getting closer to a jog at that point.

 _I want my mom!_ The thought rung through her head. _I should never have done this!_ She felt tears prickle in the corners of her eyes, and pressed the hood even tighter down on her head. _I can’t go back!_

She slammed her shoulder into the ladder. The pain snapped her out of her thoughts. She took in a deep breath, not realizing how short and shallow they had been. She felt like she had just woken up. She took another deep breath; it helped a lot.

Thinking of her mom made her upset, but it was easier to control her feelings. She tried to move her shoulder, but even trying to do so hurt _a lot_. _Ow…_ She let a couple of tears fall, out of pain. Her body begged her to sit down and take a break, while her shoulder hurt.

There was nowhere to sit nearby, so she just sat down where she was standing. It hurt a lot more than she had expected. It made it hard to move her arm. But she knew it would pass on its own; at most it would leave a mark.

She sat like that for a couple of minutes, as the pain dulled a little. Part of it had been from the shock of it. She stretched her arm gently, feeling her shoulder protest the movement. Maybe things weren’t the worst they could be… _I can still get home. This isn’t permanent._ It still wasn’t as convincing as she wanted it to be, but it was helping.

She looked back down the way to the room. She had an idea for how to waste time better. But depended on what Eda had lying around… And she really didn’t want to get up. _I’ll just sitting here for a little bit._

As time went her shoulder felt a little bit better, which was good; she needed a good shoulder for what she was planning. She got back up and slowly walking to the room.

She looked around for some of the grey shiny stuff. Last night, when she felt it in her hands, it had felt tough. Even tougher than rock, but she hadn’t put much thought into it. But at that moment, she had to find some of it. Something thicker than the needle.

She looked around in the baskets, remembering that she had seen some in one of them. She grabbed a piece, as soon as she found the holder. She got back up, hurrying back to the ladder.

She watched the wall again for a while, before slamming grey thing into it. It barely worked, but _something_ did happen. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried carving rocks before, and this wall was just… a really _really_ big rock. She slammed it into it again. She knew this wouldn’t be something she could do quickly… but it was better than sitting still.

She hammered away at the wall, only making her shoulder hurt more. _Maybe I should take a break…_ there was no need to ruin her arm completely. _It’s not like I’ll get it done anytime soon anyways_. Her hands hurt too. They were getting a little red.

The thing she was using wasn’t the best tool. It could definitely be improved. She took a closer look at the thing she was using. It looked like much shorter and broader needle with a squished end. If she tied it together with some sort of handle, she could add a lot more weight to her hits.

But what should the handle be made off? It would have to be easy to grip onto, yet also strong. There had some longer versions of… the thing she had in her hands. _I’ll give it a shot._

Soon, she was back down there again with a, hopefully, better tool. She stretched her shoulder, wincing as it ached, before continuing with her project.

Hours passed; she shifted between chiseling away at the wall and taking breaks. At some point, she went up to get something to drink. Having the project made her less worried about her situation. Even if she had barely made a chip in it.

She worked until she could barely move her arms. Only stopping because nothing was happening when she slammed it into the wall. She decided to leave the thing by the wall, climbing back up the ladder.

She watched Eda, who was still asleep on her bed. She wished she could sleep in there again, but she just laid down on the floor. It wasn’t the worst place she had ever slept. It didn’t matter much to her; she was out like a light in a matter of minutes.

She woke up to a foot being planted on her back. “Gah!” she exclaimed, struggling to get out under it. “Get off!”

The pressure on her back disappeared. “Geez, kid, what are you doing on the floor?”

She got up on her feet right after. “Sleeping!” Her body still wasn’t feeling too great. Especially not after sleeping on the floor. She stretched her shoulder once again, it felt… She winced; it hurt a whole lot.

Eda cocked an eyebrow at her. “What happened to your shoulder?”

When she thought about it, she felt her cheeks burn red. “I hurt it.” She didn’t want to admit she ran into the ladder. At least not to the person she had looked up to for so long. _Please don’t ask any more about it…_

Eda rolled her eyes. “Obviously! But happened to you?”

Then she realized she had the perfect excuse. “I have been working on a new hole!” She exclaimed a little too loudly. “Sorry, too loud again… come see!” She realized, she really wanted to show of how hard she had worked to her.

“In a minute, I need to wake up first.” The older borrower’s reply was cold. “I think I should take some time to explain how things work around here anyways.” She took something out of her decently sized bag. “You hungry or what?”

It was more of that bread. But she was hungry. “Yes.” Eda ripped the bread in half. “Thank you.” She took a bite of the bread, remembering she had to tell Eda something. “I ate the rest of the nut; I hope that was okay?”

Eda shrugged, before she began eating her piece of bread. “It only sucks the supply is…” she trailed off. Luz couldn’t read her expression, but she continued. “… limited now.”

Luz took a bit of her own bread. _They must have been good friends_. She realized that wasn’t how she should think. _Not have been, must be_. Wanting to avoid the topic for now, she asked, “so, how do things work around here?”

Eda seemed relieved she asked. “You know, how I sleep in the daytime?” Luz opened her mouth to respond, but Eda continued. “Rhetorical. You are gonna do the same.” Luz nodded, her ears shifting towards Eda in concentration. “Some things I can first show you when we get out borrowing for real. But for now, I’ll tell you some of the most important stuff.”

Luz perked up. “Out borrowing! Did you just say out borrowing?” She jumped up in excitement, flapping her hands around. She let out an excited squeal. Eda watched her with clear confusion in her eyes. Luz felt a bit flustered suddenly. Is that a weird way to act? “Was that too much?”

Eda shook her head. “No, it’s fine, just quiet down.” Eda took another bit of her bread. “So about not getting spotted by beans? That’s extra important here.” Luz gave a nervous smile. “You won’t have many places to run or hide; and you will get caught eventually.”

She shifted on her feet, before picking her piece of bread of the table. She wasn’t going to tell Eda about her scare in the other room; not for now at least.

Eda continued, not taking much notice of Luz’s nervous behavior. “Have you heard about the rule about not speaking to beans if your caught?” she asked. Luz shook her head. “Good, because you should ignore it. If you’re caught; do whatever you can to make the beans want to keep you alive.”

That made Luz shiver. Mittens fuming voice popped back into her mind. She nodded.

“But I’d appreciate if you learned to keep quiet, when _we_ are speaking.” There was a joking tone to the adult’s voice. “Ignoring that, when we are out, I’ll show you how much you can take without it being suspicious.” Eda got up getting some more water from a big clear container. “Either way, you need to learn the schedule of the beans. Luckily for you, I pretty much got it down to a point.”

Eda took a big slurp of the water, before passing it to Luz. “But you wanted to show me what you have been working on?”

Luz excitedly face up from the bottle cap. “Yes! Come on!”

Not long after, the two were standing where she had hacked away at the wall. “I know it’s not a lot, but I did my best,” said Luz, looking at her work proudly. She felt clever for finding a way to spend her time. _I did a good job!_

“That’s pretty crafty,” said Eda, picking up the tool she had made. “I’m impressed…” Eda turned it in her hands. “That’s really well tied together.”

Luz couldn’t help but puff up her chest a bit. _Heck yeah it is._ She bounced a little on her feet again. _Eda is impressed with me!_

Eda put the tool back down, looking at Luz with a satisfied smile. “Well, I guess we should get out borrowing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's funny that Luz thinks Amity's name is Mittens. Either way it's resolved in the next chapter. (Amity herself isn't going to have an actual role in the story for a while, so still not in the tags)
> 
> I still need help deciding who is what. But can always just go with what I feel is right! That leaves more oppertunity for others to make their own version! Which I highly encourage you do, if you want to! <3 I'm not possessive of my ideas or work! Mostly because it's not original content in the first place... But I know some people are possessive, and other people feel like they are ripping someone off by making the same content.  
> Just want you to know it's okay!  
> But if you do; please link it! I would really want to read it! (also if you know of other TOH G/t fics please share) 
> 
> Also I know Eda is out of character, but she really can't act like she normally does, in this au... Too many rules she can't ignore, and she has to be a lot quieter of a person. But I think her dialog still sounds like her.
> 
> (Luz's tool is made of two nails and some string)
> 
> Also also I'm not sure if it's actually called a cupboard? I know the name for it in danish. Everthing like it is just called a (et) skab. But I'm not sure... It's one of those things that reach the ground, I guess? If you know what it's called please tell me!
> 
> Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! <3


	3. Beans and their Pets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda shows Luz around the house for her first borrowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: there are snakes in this chapter! I know it's a really big phobia for some people, so read at your own risk!  
> (no, I'm not overreacting putting this here; I personally know someone with ophidiophobia)  
> And they will be relevant later in the story too... so just keep that in mind  
> Same for rats; there are going to be rats in this story too. Probably more relevant than the snakes, but I don't know yet.

“It’s good I always keep a spare of these…” mumbled Eda, bring out a string with a hook attached to it. “Never thought it would actually come in handy.”

Luz’s heart was beating out her chest with excitement. This could be the one upside to her situation; she got to live her dream! Sure, the beans were scarier than she had expected... But now she could really know what it was like being an actual house borrower!

It was hard to contain her excitement. Even if she hadn’t had the best time so far... Maybe she could impress Eda again! _I’m crafty_! That was a pretty big compliment for a borrower. It was one of the most important qualities for one could have. Knowing that Eda considered her that, made her feel better.

Eda showed her the proper way to wear the string, before both of them headed out to the ladder. “I rarely ever go outside of the kitchen, but I guess you would like to know how to get around the rest of the house,” whispered Eda. “And remember to keep quiet…”

Luz nodded enthusiastically, keeping her mouth shut. She didn’t want to ruin this. _Wait, the kitchen? Is that what the room is called?_

“The rest of the passages are through here.” She climbed the ladder, Luz following shortly after.

Soon, they were standing behind the cupboard. Eda gestured for her to follow.

Crossing the counter top, they got to another hidden ladder. Once again, Eda climbed up and Luz followed. Luz had a question on her mind, but she wasn’t sure she was allowed to speak. “Can I ask you something?” She whispered as quietly as she could.

Eda looked back, before she nodded.

“Did you make these pathways?”

She watched as Eda shook her head. “No, the borrowers before me did.”

She took a moment to process it. If Eda lives alone… “Did you know them?”

“They moved into the other house, had a chat with them yesterday.”

Luz had been about to shout, but just barely manage to stop herself. “There’s another house?” She had only ever seen one.

“Yes, it’s connected to this house. The others do pretty well for themselves. But we’re reaching one of the beans rooms.”

They climbed another ladder, before Eda pulled on a small piece of the wall. She gestured for Luz to come closer. Luz gave her a questioning look. Eda just pointed at the hole. It clicked in her head a second later. She looked through it.

The first thing she noticed, was the sleeping body of a bean. They had completely green hair; it was shorter and darker compared to Mittens’. _Who could that be?_ She wished she could ask Eda, but speaking now wouldn’t be very smart; and she had had enough of her own dumb ideas.  
After a couple of seconds, she noticed a big strange see-through box on the other end of the room. It was filled with plants, rocks and wood. _How strange…_

She moved to side, letting Eda look through. She took a while to look around, before she closed the hole up again. Eda went back to the ladder again, quickly climbing down.

Eda opened up another hole, but this one was much bigger. Big enough to crawl through even. Luz watched her crawl into it, before following after her.  
 _We must be under the beans bed,_ Luz thought looking around recognizing some of the things she had seen from above.

Even though they had taken a look before; Luz could see that Eda was listening for something. She listened too. But the only noise she picked up on was the beans slow and steady breathing.

Eda waited a little longer, before getting out from under the bed.

Luz could barely figure out how to throw the hook the way Eda did, when she climbed the desk. Eda made it look so easy… but the only thing Luz could figure out was how not to make it clink onto the floor. In other words; she could catch it, but that was it.

 _Oh no,_ she thought, trying to throw it again. She had not expected it to be that challenging. There had never been a situation where she needed to do _anything_ like this. The closest thing to this had been when she just climbed around without any help, but that always had either twigs or the bark on trees. This would have no grip, if she tried to climb it without the string.

She backed away a little. It didn’t help that her shoulder wasn’t doing that good either. She gentle rubbed the spot that hurt trying to judge how bad it was. It hurt a lot less than the initial blow, but it was still not good by far.

The hook flew up again one last time, before she decided it was better to take a short break. She was not risking the bean hearing the constant dinging of the hook against the desk. It took her a couple of seconds, before she went back under bed.

Soon, Eda climbed back down looking at her with a cocked eyebrow.

Luz pointed to the hook and desk, before tapping her ear. Hopefully, Eda understood what she was trying to say. Eda nodded, sitting down beside her.

What was it in the technique she was missing? _Will I even be able to climb up when I get it right?_ But the only other option was quitting. And that was absolutely not what she was going to do. It wasn’t like there was a better way to practice. Maybe a less dangerous place, but it wasn’t the worst.

It wasn’t long after, that Luz got up to try throw the hook up onto the desk. But this time Eda was silently guiding her on how to do it.

While trying to make it catch the edge, she kept an ear on the sleeping bean. But they were fast asleep by the sounds of it. There was the occasional rustle of the blankets. No proper signs that they were awake.

Suddenly the hook tugged onto the desk. Luz nearly gasped, but she kept managed to keep quiet. Luz couldn’t help, but hug Eda; who flinched back in surprise for a second, gently pushing her away.  
Luz gave an apologetic look.

Eda quickly regained her composure, and threw her hook; it snagging the table immediately. Knowing how hard it was to do only made her even cooler in Luz eyes. Eda quickly climbed the string, watching Luz trying to the same.

That was nearly as hard to figure out; she kept slipping back down. Luckily not falling, but she couldn’t get proper purchase on the desk. She tried her best to copy what Eda had done. It wouldn’t work for her.

 _Come on!_ she thought, clenching her jaw, desperately clinging on to the string. But she slowly slipped down again. She wasn’t going to stop trying before she got all the way up. Frustratedly, she grabbed ahold of the string again, only to get the same result.

But eventually, after a long and tedious time, she made her way to the top. Eda was sitting and waiting for her, with her string neatly wrapped across her shoulder like before. Luz quickly folded hers up and put it on like Eda did. She kept her gaze down, not really wanting to look at Eda. _I’m slowing her down._

Eda walked across the desk over to the strange box she had seen through the hole. Luz looked up at her as she waved her closer, before looking into the thing. There was something in there, other than the plants and other things she had seen earlier… something alive and moving!

Her body jolted back in surprise when she saw it. Her wide eyes fell on Eda. _What **is** that thing?_ It was long and scaly, but it wasn’t anything like what she had seen before. Nothing like a lizard, despite its scaly body. It was so much bigger, and with no legs!

Eda just gestured for her to follow again, as she climbed back down from the desk.

That was a lot easier. But her mind was still filled with shock from seeing that beast. _Why does the bean have that thing in their room?_ But now her brain was filling with intrigue than fear. What _could_ be the reason they kept the creature there? _Beans are so weird…_

Eda opened up, yet another, secret passage into the walls.

As soon as both of them were in there, to Luz’s surprise, Eda spoke up. “That was a snake,” she whispered. “One of the other kids has one too; always check if the snakes are in their terrariums.”

Luz nodded. _Snakes and terrariums…_ Two new words she would have to remember. “How many beans live here?” she asked, as the thought hit her.

“Five; three children and their parents.”

“Do you know their names?” Luz was kind of curios, even if she knew the names of two of them. Not that she would mention that to Eda.

“Of course,” she replied, pointing back to the room they were just in. “The one in there is Edric, and on the other side of the wall is Emira.”

“Isn’t it risky to be talking when she’s so close?” It didn’t make sense to her that Eda was suddenly talking so much. Especially with beans so close to them.

“Not really.” Once again there was another ladder. _How many of those are there?_ Eda stopped at the bottom of it. “But other than that; the last three beans are Amity, their mom Odalia and their father Alador. If I don’t remember wrong their name is Blight.”

That made Luz pause. _Was Mittens just a nickname? Then who is she?_ She could figure out who Ed was, but Mittens wasn’t as obvious. There had to be a way she could ask without making it apparent that she could have been caught. “Isn’t there a Mittens? I heard somebody call someone Mittens through the wall. Do you know who that is?”

There was a laugh in Eda’s voice, making Luz’s face burn red in embarrassment. “That’s Amity.”

 _Amity not Mittens,_ she corrected in her head. She pictured the girl in her head, trying the name out with her. _It’s not my fault I didn’t hear the right name,_ she thought, as her face reddened even more. But Eda didn’t dwell on it more as she climbed the ladder.

Eda gestured for Luz to take a look through the hole.

Again, the first thing she noticed was the bean. They had the same hair color as Edric. Their blanket had fallen off the bed, but they still looked fast asleep. But she didn’t look at them for long, she needed to look for the terrarium. It caught her eyes not a second later; it was a lot bigger than the one Edric had. _So, the snake has to be bigger too._  
And it was. It was also, comparatively, very colorful. A gigantic orange snake was coiled up underneath a big piece of wood.

Luz back away again, and Eda looked through. Barely a couple seconds later, she closed up the hole.

Once they were back down Eda spoke again. “We don’t need to go in there, it doesn’t connect to anything.”

Luz nodded. Although, she was a bit confused as to why she showed her it.

She followed after Eda, while they made their way to one more of the openings. This one lead to a long room with lots of doors. They stood underneath something, but Luz wasn’t entirely sure what it could be. They crossed over to the other side.

Before Eda opened the next little hidden holes, she turned to Luz. “You need to be very careful; _Mittens_ isn’t always asleep.” There was a bit of a mocking tone in the way Eda said Mittens. But soon after she was already in the walls, and Luz had to follow.

Luz had a peek into the room. It turned out that that day was one of those, where the bean couldn’t sleep. She seemed concentrated on some sort of… how could she even describe it? She had never seen anything like it. It was black and glowing, that was pretty much all she could figure out. She had something covering her ears too. Something furry was moving in her hands.

But before she could process anymore; Eda pulled her away. She barely glanced for a second, angrily motioning at Luz when she turned back.

Luz really wanted to see what was going on; the bean had had something in her hands. It had looked white and spotted with black. Eda pointed to the ladder, and Luz climbed down immediately.

She realized, that she had messed up. _Shoot, I should not have stood there for so long!_ She waited until they were down, before whispering very quietly, “Sorry…”

Eda shook her head. “You should be more careful; what if she saw you?” Her voice was back to the quiet hiss from last night. “You know what? Forget it! You think you can make you way back to the kitchen?” Judging by her tone, she was still very irritated. “You lead the way.”

Luz was a bit caught off guard, but she did as Eda told.  
Liking everything else; it was hard than it looked. She could make it all the way back to the opposite wall of Edric’s room, but after that she felt a bit lost. She couldn’t remember which way would lead to what. She went with what felt the most likely.

Luckily, it didn’t take long, before she found the ladder down.

The first thing Eda did, when they were back in the kitchen, was walk over to some sort of box. It was closed off by a big cover, but she quickly pushed it off. Luz realized something, but didn’t say anything. _I don’t have anything to carry things with me…_

Eda gestured for her to come over, but she seemed to realize the same thing Luz did. She dragged her hand across her face, before she gestured for Luz to come over.

She did what Eda wanted. Curiously watching as she opened the bag of bread that was in the odd container. Luz didn’t like how noisy it was when it crinkled. She hadn’t expected Eda to speak up. “Alright, I’m going to show you how much you can take.”

It was a lot more than Luz thought. Eda had climbed into the bag to gather bread crumbs. “Sometimes we can be lucky enough that one of them forget to put something in the fridge, that’s when we’re really going to have a good day.”

Luz just nodded, despite having no idea what a fridge was.

Eda crawled back out of the bag. “Maybe you should try to take something yourself.”

She did so; she really didn’t want to make Eda more upset with her that day.  
It wasn’t as hard as the rest of the things she had had to do so far. In the end, she had an armful of bread that she shoved in Eda’s bag.

Luz ears twitched, hearing a door click open somewhere in the house. She glanced towards the sound hearing footsteps coming closer. She shot Eda a picked glance. “What do I do?”

“Close everything!” Eda’s voice was quiet, but panicked. Both of them started working on getting the bag closed, luckily getting it closed in a couple of seconds. Luz jumped up, grabbed ahold of the handle and with Eda’s help, got it closed.

She could still hear someone coming; there wouldn’t be enough time to get back to either ladder. She grabbed Eda before running behind the box.

Now would have been a perfect time to swear, if it wasn’t for the fact she was hiding. She recognized the dragging footsteps; it was Amity.

 _Of course, none of the others were awake._ A cupboard above them opened, as she grabbed something from it, and filled it up with water. She could hear the bean slurping a sip of it, and filling it up again. There was a clack, as she put the cup down and went looking for something else. She caught a glimpse of the beans arm at the other end of the room.

There was a relatively quiet clanking of some kind, coming in the direction of Amity. But it stopped as soon as she got the thing she wanted. She heard her pick up the cup before leaving again.

They waited for a while, Luz still holding her breath. But after about a minute of shallow, yet quiet, breathing had passed; she let out a sigh. “Quick thinking, kid…” Eda whispered next to her. “You are really something.” The tone made Luz question whether or not that was entirely a good thing.

It didn’t take long before they were both back in the Eda’s room. Luz wasn’t sure how much she had slept, but either way; she was exhausted. “Is it alright I sleep?”

Eda looked at her. “Already?”

“I woke up to someone standing on me,” she stated dryly. She took something to eat and sat down. “I have barely slept a couple hours.”

She ate pretty quickly and drank some water, when a question popped up in her mind. “What was Amity holding, back in the room? She looked like she had an animal in her hands?”

“Ah, she has pet rats…” _But don’t beans hate rats?_

“I thought beans didn’t want those in their homes?”

Eda shook her. “Beans are confusing…”

Luz thought about it, but shortly after, she yawned. “Can I sleep in your bed?”

“Only because of your shoulder,” she replied. “But I’m waking you up when I need to sleep.”

Luz nodded, feeling her eyes drooping a little. She could really use some sleep, especially after the night she had had.

She laid down on the bed, sighing, and pulled the blanket over herself.

This sleep was either going to be the most stressful of her life, or the most blissful.  
She knew which one she wanted, and that she definitely wasn't going to get it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if Edric should have a garder or hognose snake, but Emira has a cornsnake.  
> Probably hognose, I like hognoses. Not that I'm a big fan of snakes; I prefer birds, but I think they look funny.
> 
> This chapter was shorter than the last; I try to go for and averege of 3k words per chapter and I could have made it shorter, but chose not to.  
> Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments!  
> I reply to nearly every comment! Unless I really don't know how to respond. And you have to confuse me a lot for that... Already has happened on another work of mine. Hasn't happened here though! But expect to be waiting a while, if you're from U.S.A. I might be asleep.
> 
> Constructive criticism is greatly appriciated! <3


	4. Feeling like a Mouse that got Caught by an Owl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz meets the next door borrowers, but luck really doesn't seem to ever be on her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and changed Luz's mom's name to right one

She hated that she knew herself and her dreams so well. She had one of the worst recurring nightmares she had ever had.

She was a mouse in the dream. A specific mouse; the mouse she had seen get killed by an owl. But, unlike the mouse, she got to run, which made it much worse. Getting chased by something she knew was there, but couldn’t see was terrifying.

On top of that, she couldn’t run properly. Every step felt like she was wading through mud. It was both giving her a headache and nearly making her cry out of fear. It was always like this; and despite how much she always wanted to, she could never wake up on command.

She tried to scream for help, but no noise would come out. It felt like it the words were trapped inside her head. She tried again and again, sensing the owl was getting closer, but nothing changed.

No matter how many times she had the dream it would always be as terrifying as the first time. Nightmares were too realistic for their own good…

Luz could feel something shoving against her. “Wake up,” an irritated voice called out, “I’m getting tired.”

Her eyes slowly cracked open, as she remembered her promise to Eda. She didn’t mean to let out a sigh, but she d6id. “Okay…” She replied, not looking forward to sleeping on the floor again. She stretched out her body, surprised with how much the pain in her shoulder had dulled.

She got out of the bed, laying down on the floor. This time farther away from Eda. It took her a long time to fall asleep.

She woke up before Eda again, but it was confusing not knowing how long she slept. Usually, she could tell when by seeing how bright the sun was. Or if it wasn’t there. But inside the walls, she was losing track of time.

It wasn’t long after that she had already taken something to eat and drink. Her dream was already fading from her memory. It wasn’t much worse than it usually was when she had it. Just as frustrating and frightening as it always was; which was a lot. _I should get back to working on making the new entrance._

Luz got to the ladder down to the room, she couldn’t help but wonder who those other borrowers were. They would have to live somewhere on the other side of the ladder… Maybe she could explore later… with Eda, that was; she didn’t want to get attacked again.

It felt strange to think about the fact that Eda almost attacked her. She had really been ready to just… fight Luz. _Why was she so aggressive? What did she assume I was going to do?_

She didn’t dwell more on it, and climbed down.

Her work was a lot more efficient this time; her shoulder wasn’t forcing her to take as many breaks.

After a while, she decided it was better to save a little energy for later. If it didn’t work out for her; she could just go back to it.

She sat down, thinking about the other borrowers. She had never known anybody other than her mother and Eda. _Do I really know Eda that well?_ Who was she really? She liked nuts, and wanted her to be quiet; that was pretty much all Luz knew about her.

 _Maybe I should ask her a bit more about herself?_ She did want to get to know her better, but she had plenty of time for that.

Her thoughts were drifting back to her mother. _I wonder how she’s doing?_ There was no way she was doing good; her daughter had been gone for around two days. Or would it be three? It was hard to figure out. _What **does** she think happened to me?_ She wished; she could tell her she was doing alright. Thinking about it upset her stomach.

 _It’s my fault, if I hadn’t been so impulsive, this wouldn’t be a problem…_ She sighed, leaning her head into her hands. As she grew more anxious, it became harder to sit still; she had to do something.

Specifically, she had to feel like she was doing something to get home. And, not long after, she was working on making the new hole in the wall again.

She worked for a while, before getting up to take something to drink. It helped that she was so frustrated with herself; it gave more force to her hits.

She worked for hours once again, before going back to Eda’s room. The hole in the wall was barely growing, but it _was_ something.

She let the other borrower take her time waking up, before asking her any questions. “You’re oddly quiet today,” said Eda, giving her a questioning look. “There’s nothing wrong, right?”

“No, I’m fine.” But she wasn’t really sure how she was doing. There was a lot on her mind. “But I’m a little curious about the other borrowers you mentioned the other night.”

Eda huffed out a little laugh. “Are you going to run away over to them anyways if I don’t?” She laughed to herself, but Luz felt like she had just been punched in the gut. But Eda didn’t seem to notice. “What do you want to know?”

Luz took a moment to compose herself. “I was just curious about how many of them there are…” It was hard to get the words out. Her head hung a little when she spoke. She couldn’t look Eda in her eyes.

“There are three of them I think; I’m pretty sure they have a girl your age.”

Her ears twitched. “Really?” She had never met anyone her own age. Now she was even more curious. But she shut up, before her next question even left her mouth. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again. _No, I can’t ask to meet them._ What if she was suddenly stuck there instead? _But I’m not going to run off without permission this time…_

“Yes,” she replied, snapping Luz out of her thoughts. “I think they took her in when she was really young.”

Luz tilted her head. “What do you mean by that?”

“They found and raised her; like your mom raised you.” At the mention of her mom, both of their attitude changed. “Anyways, that’s what I mean by taking her in.” Eda went quiet after that.

Luz awkward sat and waited, not really sure what to do. She thought about her situation… or more so, her and Eda’s situation. It took her a little bit, before she realized something. “It’s not my fault!” She spoke out in excitement.

The other borrower jumped at her sudden outburst. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s not my fault the wall is sealed!”

The other borrower looked a little calmer, but her confusion was clear. “I’m still not following; what where is this coming from?”

“The beans sealed the wall after I ran away, but it’s not my fault; it was just bad luck!” Her voice was getting louder. She quieted down, when she noticed “I mean, I have been blaming myself.”

Eda looked at her for a second longer. “Okay.”

Now it felt more awkward, but she was still curious about the other borrowers. She still hesitated in asking to meet them. It felt weird after what had happened… But if she didn’t ask would she ever get the chance? “Is there a chance I’m going to meet them?” It felt strange to ask the question.

Eda groaned. “Meet who? Slow down!”

“The other borrowers. I really want to get to know them, since I’m living here.”

She tiredly rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I should’ve guessed… But maybe sometime this night if they’re not out.”

 _That can’t be right…_ “This night? Isn’t that a little too soon?” Usually it would have to be a lot longer before she got to do what she wanted.

Eda shrugged. “It’s not like there’s much else to do; I’m not running low on anything important.”

A thought from earlier popped back to her. “Why did you almost attack me when you first saw me?”

Eda groaned. “Can you keep to one topic, kid? I can barely keep up!” She took a moment to sigh, before continuing. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, there’s usually nobody other than me here. And you didn’t look like anybody I recognized.”

Luz’s brows furrowed. “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” _I did kind of intrude into her home…_ “But, changing subject…” this time giving Eda a warning with a cautious smile. “Is it going to be soon? When we’re going over there? To meet the others, I mean.”

“Whenever I’m ready.”

Luz waited patiently. Or, well, more patiently than normal. At least she wasn’t jumping around in excitement. She wanted to prove to herself, that she could wait like this if she needed to. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with the string swung over her shoulders.

She lightly tangled it around her hands and arms, before letting it slide off again. It was better than sitting completely still.

But eventually Eda did get ready. “Follow after me.”

She followed close behind Eda, with her curiosity growing as they moved farther in the walls. Not that it was too interesting at that moment, but who knew how it would be later?

When they had walked for a while, Eda made a rhythmic tapping noise on the wall. The noise repeated a little farther ahead. “Alright, they’re home,” whispered Eda.

Luz’s eyes widened in fascination. _They have a way to communicate without using words!_ She looked up at Eda while she kept up the pace. “That is sooo cool!” she exclaimed in an excited whisper.

The other borrowers appeared around the corner. “Hi, Eda,” one of them greeted, before his eyes fell on Luz. “Who are you?”

“I’m Luz, nice to meet you,” she greeted, unsure what to do. She had been told that was how you were supposed to do it, but it hadn’t come in handy before now.

“Yeah, that’s Camila’s daughter,” replied Eda. “You know, the one I mentioned the other day?”

Luz shifted on her feet, trying to figure out if she was doing this right. But not long after she noticed the girl Eda had talked about. Still unsure of what to do, she waved. The girl hesitantly waved back. Luz noticed she seemed to be squinting. _What with the look?_ She questioned silently, but decided to ignore it. “Hi,” Luz greeted cheerfully, watching the other girl smile back.

Eda spoke up again. “Well, I took Luz here, because she was curious about you three. And she was really curious about your daughter.”

“oh, really?” There was a big friendly smile on one of the men’s faces.

“Yep, I was thinking they could do their own thing, so we could have time to talk.”

The other man looked over at his daughter. “Do you feel alright with that?”

After a few seconds, the girl nodded. “Yes,” she added to her nod. Luz liked the way the other girl’s voice sounded. “I’m Willow.”

Eda looked at Luz. “I think she would like to see the house, if Willow wants to show her around.”

Luz perked up; she did want to see this house. She looked over at Willow, who nodded again, before gesturing for Luz to follow.

After they had gotten some distance between them and the adults; Luz couldn’t keep the question in any longer. “Can I talk?” asked Luz curiously. “I promise I won’t be loud.” She really wanted to ask her a lot of questions. And she wanted to hear her voice again.

“Sure,” she replied with a smile. But Luz hadn’t expected the girl to have questions of her own. “You’re a wild borrower, right?”

“I am!” she replied, in an excited, but quiet, tone.

“How is it like living out there?”

She thought about it. “Cold…” And it was. At this time, nights were getting pretty chilly, but in here, it was warm all of the time. “It’s much warmer here.” There was something else she hadn’t really thought about before now. “And there’s a lot more space to run around out there. And you can be a lot louder without it being as dangerous.”

“But aren’t there a lot of wild animals that want to eat you?” Her tone sounded very worried.

Luz shrugged. “Probably, but I haven’t been eaten so far,” she stated casually. “There was one time where an owl caught a mouse in front of me. I still have nightmares about that.” Then, yesterday popped back up in her head. “Actually, I was almost killed by a…” she had to pause to remember what it was called, “a cat a couple nights ago. Right before I got stuck here.”

The other girl let out a small gasp. “You survived a cat attack?” she questioned in surprise.

“Yeah, it missed me by an arm’s length.” It was starting to dawn on her how close she had been to dying. “It was mostly just luck. I was standing by the entrance; I would have been dead, if I didn’t.”

There was a brief silence between the girls, while they both processed the words. “Well, Eda said you wanted to see the house, right?” Luz nodded. “Let’s do that.”

She showed her around a couple different rooms. This house’s kitchen, something she said was called a “living room” and now they were standing on the desk in one of the beans’ rooms. The bean had a bunch of fabric in their room, but, for some reason, they weren’t there themselves. Luz decided it was safe to speak up. “Why does the bean have so much fabric?”

“He makes costumes for something the beans call theater,” replied Willow, she looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think it’s something were they pretend their someone they’re not.”

Luz nodded. “And costumes are?”

“It’s something they wear to look like what they are pretending to be.”

Again, she nodded.

The fabric looked very nice to touch. “Do you think he’d notice if I touched it?” she asked keeping her eyes on it. She wanted to touch the fabric, but not if that meant getting caught. “I want to touch the fabric…”

“Go ahead.”

Running her hand along it, she was amazed. _It’s really smooth!_ She loved the texture against her hand. “Wow! I’ve never felt anything like this!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice. She put her face into it to get a better feel of it. She was really compelled to take it some of it with her, but she wasn’t sure if the bean would notice. There were small scraps laying around. “Will he notice if I take some with me?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

 _Sweet!_ thought Luz, wrapping some of it around her arm. She still didn’t have a bag with her.  
But something felt off… A really bad feeling was growing in her gut. She strained her ears, trying to figure out why she was feeling like this. There was some sort of noise on the other side of the door. _Footsteps!_

She grabbed Willow by the arm. “We need to get away!” she whispered.

But before the two got any farther; there was a click, a blinding flash of light, and then a gasp sounded.

_Uh oh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first cliff hanger! I was planing to do this all the way back when chapter 3 was done. Took me a little while to get the ball rolling on this chapter. I've been struggling with what to do with this fic since... well technically chapter 1... I have nothing planned out. And after next chapter, I'm probably going to take a 1-2 week long break to figure out what I want to do. I need to get my brain up and running again!
> 
> Also, I know I'm writing Luz more autistic than ADHD, but that's because... I don't know, it just kind of... happened I guess... I hope it's not that big of a deal? I'll try to avoid it, if you'd like, but you have to let me know.
> 
> And, I don't know if it was noticable, but this chapter was shorter than the rest by... 500-1k words. I needed to get the average length back down to a nearly clean 3k. It was frustrating me.
> 
> But anyways, as always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! <3


	5. Captured, but it opens an Opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz fights as hard as she can to get both of them out of there.

Luz couldn’t see a thing; she could only _hear_ the bean coming closer. Before she could really process what was happening; she felt a hand close around her, separating her from Willow. Her vision was slowly returning to her.

“Woah!” It sounded from the bean. “Borrowers!” His voice was booming in her ears; she needed to get away. She chomped down on one of his fingers.

The bean let out a startled noise, tightening his grip around her. But Luz did the same, biting down even harder. She could already taste blood.

He dropped her, letting her hit the desk with a tiny thud. Despite that, she wasn’t as concerned with herself as she was with Willow. It didn’t hurt as much as she had expected, but she could be doing better. At least she didn’t hit her head. She could see a little bit; the bean must have cupped her in his hands, while looking at the bitemark.

Once she was back up on her feet; It only took her a second to decide what she was going to do. She leapt off the desk onto the bean.

He let out a startled shout. Everything shifted around, as he back away in surprise. She could barely hold on.

“Let her go!” shouted Luz in a snarl. She didn’t know what he wanted to do with her, but she wasn’t going to let it happen. Her grip on the shirt grew weaker, but letting go wasn’t an option. For multiple reasons…

Despite how straining it was to hold on; she managed to climb farther up his shirt. It was clear he wasn’t willing to get his hands near her again.

“woa-!” It sounded from the bean, as he tripped over something, falling onto his back. Luz could see Willow getting squeezed by one of his hands, when it curled into a fist. She was struggling wildly in his grasp.

It barely to a couple of seconds, before he was sitting up, and Luz rolled down across his chest and stomach. His fingers grabbed the back of her shirt, without even giving Luz a chance to get back up. Luz looked over at Willow who was now dangling the same way she was. Luz’s eyes widened in panic, when it hit her what was happening.

She scratched out after his fingers without thinking. “Let us go!” she yelled at the boy. “What do want with us?” She wasn’t trying to keep the least bit quiet anymore. It was hard to kick out after him, but she still tried.

He seemed to ignore her, as he was looking for something. In front of him was something that looked like a wider and bigger cupboard. He brought Willow over in the hand he was holding Luz in, before opening said weird cupboard.

_Why isn’t he listening to me?_ She had at least expected the bean to say _something_ to her. At the very least telling her to quiet down.  
She looked to her side. Willow being next to her made her hesitant to fight against the bean. Luz felt like her heart skipped a beat. _What’s going to happen to us?_

He tipped a big box of fabric over, letting the content fall out, before picking it back up again and placing it on his desk. It didn’t take long after that, before Luz realized what he was doing.

He put both of them in the box, before looking at the bite Luz had given him. His gaze fell down on them; his hand hesitantly hovered over the box. _If he touches us, I’ll give him another!_

But she didn’t get the chance, as he held her down with a single finger. The amount of pressure on her back made it hard to breathe, as he took her string from her. _It doesn’t matter, I’ll figure out another way to get out of here!_ She kicked out underneath his hands, but it was useless.

It was odd how quiet Willow was; Luz was sure she was okay, but for some reason she wasn’t speaking up. _Is it because of that rule Eda mentioned?_ That could make sense… and it wasn’t like Luz was finding any success in yelling at the bean.

As soon as he let go off her, she turned around biting him again. But she couldn’t get a proper grip on his finger this time. Her back took most of the impact when she fell, leaving her even more winded than before.

Her eyes fell on Willow, who had streams of tears running down her face. She sprung up immediately, but once she was on her feet, she wasn’t sure what to do. Willow was crying, how could she comfort her with a bean around? Even if he wasn’t there, what could she say to comfort her? There was no upside to this; they had been caught by a bean.

While lost in thought, she could still hear him leave. She didn’t want to put Willow on the spot by asking her what to do, but she didn’t have any ideas of her own. Other than scrabbling up against the walls of the box, that was. _I’m not doing that._

It was a tall box, but, maybe, if she lifted Willow up there; Willow could climb out. Luz had the least to lose here. Her mother probably already assumed this had happened, but Willow could still lose her family. Luz made up her mind. “Come on, Willow!”

She lifted her up, trying to get her as far up as she could, but it wasn’t quite enough. _Maybe if I let Willow stand on my shoulders instead_ …  
But she didn’t get much further with her planning, before the bean was back in the room. He gently took Willow away from Luz, before he stood and stared at them. Something was covering the place she had bitten him. _I will bite him again!_

But she hadn’t expected what he was going to say next. “Sorry I was so rough… I just never thought I would get the chance to see real borrowers in person!”

_What is his deal? He made Willow cry!_ She might not have known her that long, but she knew that wasn’t okay. “Let us go!” What could she do to convince him to do that? _Eda said to do whatever it takes to get away alive… But what did that mean?_  
Was she supposed to be more passive? But she had already bitten him, and he seemed to understand her reaction. He wasn’t angry with her, at least.

He just stared at them, before speaking up again. “Technically, I’m supposed to report this to animal control…” _Animal control_ _?_ She didn’t know what that meant, but she knew it didn’t sound good. “But I’ve always thought that was kind of cruel… you haven’t really done anything wrong! It’s not like you carry diseases, unlike rats.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. _What is he talking about? Diseases? Rats?_ She took a glance at Willow who starting to look… uncertain? Did she know what was going on? Her focus shifted back to the boy. “What are you talking about?”

She didn’t like all his attention being on her. “Do you not know what diseases are?” She hated the tone in his voice.

“I know what those are; I’m not stupid!” She couldn’t keep her anger to herself. “What is animal control? And what is so cruel about it? And what does rats have to do with any of this?”

The bean looked completely baffled. “That’s a lot of questions…” His gaze flickered between Luz and something she couldn’t see. Despite, the lack of an ear-shift to indicate it; he was clearly alarmed. “I guess, it would be… I mean-”

For the first time since he entered the room; Willow spoke up. “It’s how beans get us killed! Whether that be by leaving us dying outside or killing us themselves!”

Every part of her body froze up. Was that what they _normally_ did? She couldn’t believe her ears… They were pressed tightly back against her head. Luz couldn’t even speak; was that why Willow had gone so quiet? Because she was certain she was going to die?

The bean held out his hands in a defensive way, speaking quickly, “but like I said; that’s cruel, so I won’t do it!”

Knowing that; Luz found her voice again. “What do you want with us, then?” She hated being trapped in the box, he had put them in.

“I just wanted to talk!” He seemed surprisingly excited. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot…” He laughed to himself. “Or hand, I guess. Anyways, I’m Augustus! But most people forget that, so you can just call me Gus.” He looked like he was about to put his hand in the box, but he pulled it back. “I guess handshakes wouldn’t really do…”

Luz realized what Eda meant by saying what you could to keep yourself alive. She should play along with this. Even if she really didn’t want to. “I’m Luz,” she said, but she couldn’t keep the sour tone out of her voice. He made Willow _cry._ She scowled at him, and _still_ wouldn’t hesitate to bite him again.

“Sorry that I scared you two,” he continued, looking away from them. “and I didn’t mean to drop you on desk; it just hurt a lot when you bit me.”

Luz wasn’t sure what to make of him. He seemed like he was alright, but… he was also a bean, and he nearly squeezed the life out of the both of them. _What does he want me to say_? “Are you going to let us go?”

She didn’t like how quiet Gus went. “What _am_ I going to do?” He might not have realized it, but those words were terrifying. He brought his hand to his chin. “I mean, eventually, but…” He trailed off and looked unsure.

“Can you please just let us go?” It was Willow who had spoken up again. There was something about the tone in her voice that seemed oddly… withdrawn. Luz looked over at her wondering what exactly she was thinking about. “I really want to go home…”

Luz’s ears drooped a tiny bit. But her eyes widened as a thought hit her. _This bean could help me get home!_ All he would have to do was open the door for her… She could be back with her mother! But why did that make her feel anxious?

“Of course, you do! I just… have never had an opportunity like this!”

“Do you need the both of us to stay here? Can’t you just let-” she had been about to say Willow’s name, but cut herself off, realizing she might not want Gus to know that. “-her go and I stay here?”

But Willow interjected. “No, Luz, that’s not happening!” her voice quivered in her panicked yell. The other borrower’s eyes were wide. Willow had to know something Luz didn’t. But her tone was already back to normal when she spoke again. “Besides, you don’t know anything about what he wants to hear about.”

Again, he looked alarmed, but he regained his composure fast. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, looking between the two of them.

Luz wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She knew what she was referring to, but it could only get one of them in more trouble, and there was a fifty-fifty chance it was Willow. Luz burst out into a nervous laugh. “It means nothing! Absolutely nothing! I, uh, don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Willow looked at her with a raised eyebrow. But before she could speak; Luz spoke up again. “I can answer any question you want!” _Or I could make something up on the spot._ It didn’t matter whether or not it was true; just as long as it could be convincing. “If you let Wi-” She bit her tongue almost having said her name again, “-her go, that is.”

Neither of the two girls had expected him to just… tip the box over.

Luz had been standing next to the wall of the box, but Willow fell a little farther. “Hey!” shouted Luz, as she fell onto the side of it.

“Sorry! I just assumed you didn’t want to be picked up!”  
He was right, she would absolutely hate that. But why did he do that? _What is he doing this for?_ There was something about his behavior that wasn’t making sense. But not necessarily in a bad way. He brought both their strings out of his pocket.  
“Here,” he said, holding them out in front of Luz. He looked a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry I did all this. I was just really excited to see borrowers in person. I really didn’t mean to… you know… trap you like this…”

Luz hesitantly took the strings out his hand, handing the other to Willow.

Thoughts were swirling around inside her head. Way too many of them…  
She could go home right now, if she just asked… She stared at the string in her hand. Her mom meant so much to her, and she had already been captured by a bean three days into her time in the house. But Willow was here, and despite only knowing her for so little time, she was the only other borrower she could ever consider being a friend.

Luz tightened her grip, as the bad feeling returned. The bean knew they were here now, so wasn’t she supposed to leave? He couldn’t be trusted with keeping it a secret. Even a slight slip up on his part could get Willow’s family killed. She looked over to her. “Are you going to need to leave the house?”

Willow froze, before shaking her head, but it clearly wasn’t to outright say no. “I can’t say that right now.” Her eyes shifted a tiny bit towards Gus. Luz understood.

“You probably want me to leave so I don’t find your doors, right?” he asked, still seeming apologetic. He backed away a little. “I’m just gonna go...”

“Wait!” Her ears were, once again, pressed back against her head. “I’m not-” She needed rethink her words. “I got stuck in here when the walls were sealed up… I don’t live here and I need to get back.” Why was every word so hard to get out? This was what she wanted the entire time she had been here… She wanted her mom, but now where she actually could get to her… she felt uncertain.

He stopped in his tracks. “Are you asking me to help you?”

Luz hesitated a couple of seconds, before nodding.

“well, that seems easy!”

He placed his hand down on the desk, palm up.

_Does he expect me to climb on?_ But before she could do that, Willow put a hand on her shoulder. “What are you doing, Luz?”

“I have to get back home somehow,” she replied. “you can tell the-” again she stopped herself at the last possible moment. “that I want to go home! Yes, you can tell that I want to go home.” A sickly feeling spread through, as she felt the shock of her words. _I almost said the others…_

“You’re seriously just going to trust him not to hurt you? You can’t trust beans!”

“But I can’t just not go home! Not while my mom doesn’t know what happened to me!”

“Maybe you should think this through a little more.” There was something in Willow’s tone that made Luz stop for a second.

Maybe this wasn’t the best solution… If her mom had suspected that she had gone into the house there was a chance she would see her in the hands of a bean… But then again if he just let her go, would she even think about it? But that wasn’t considering the fact that he could be lying…  
She didn’t like the other alternative, but maybe it was better to consider it for a little longer. “Okay...” Her decision was mostly based in the fact that Willow definitely knew something. And that would make sense she had been living in the walls for… probably her entire life.

“Good, now, we should really get back home.”

The once the two were back inside the walls, Luz spoke up. “What exactly are we going to do?” It wasn’t easy for her to accept the fact that she had just left behind a way that she could get back home.

“I need to tell my dads about this…” her shoulders slumped as she spoke. “We might need to leave again… It happens a lot more often than you would expect.”

“Have you been found before?” She suddenly realized that might have been too personal of a question. “If you’re alright with telling me that is.”

Willow glanced over at her, before looking away again. “I have, but would rather not talk about it.”

Luz nodded, before looking away herself. It was fine with her. _Her reactions…_ Luz felt sick; Willow had known exactly what was going on. She must have been scared for her life ever since the light flashed on… “Do you really think it would be worse for me to go with him than stay here? He seemed alright after he calmed down.”

Willow looked up at her, her ears drooped. “Maybe it did seem like that, but you can never know.”

Luz had to admit, as horrible as it sounded, she was intrigued. _I wonder what she means by that…_ But she didn’t want to intrude: Willow had said that she didn’t want to talk about it. “How exactly would you guys move away? Everything is sealed up.”

“I’m… not sure…” Willow’s ears were still pointing downwards. “I guess we’ll have to figure something out if we do…” She was trying to hide it, but Luz could see she was crying.

Luz put a hand on Willow’s shoulder. Willow took it. For a moment, Luz thought she did the wrong thing. _Oh no, is she going to push me away?_ But the exact opposite happened; she leaned into her, making Luz feel… _what exactly am I feeling_? She didn’t dwell on it, but she liked the feeling. _Is this what it’s like having friends?_ It was heart wrenching to see her new friend cry, but knowing she could comfort her made her feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if I used the wrong word for something, please let me know! I'm not a native speaker, so I rely a little on google translate, and that might give me some funky results. And also because of mess ups and differences in handling things in different countries. (The part with the local authorities I have fixet to says animal control instead. But it was still absolutely hilarious that is happened.)
> 
> Also I'm not sure if this is going to be a Willuz fic? The ship is cute and I made it possible, but lumity is definitely my otp. It's just that I don't like the power difference there would be between the two in this au; it feels a little uncomfortable. And I can't not make it at least a little gay. I can't even avoid that in my original work...
> 
> Anyways, I'm going to have a lot of time to figure that out. I'll probably first post again in at least two weeks... Unless I really can't stop myself from writing. But don't expect anything before... I don't know, maybe, the fifteenth of october? Possibly later, I don't have a schedule.
> 
> And sorry if everybody is so out of character this chapter. I have never written Gus before and I haven't really considered how the characters would react. Luz and Willow would definitely give their lives for each other though. At least Luz would give her life for Willow, that's pretty clear from ep 3. Those girls bonded fast.
> 
> (the introduction Gus gives is kinda a reference to the fact that his tag on here is his nickname. Not as much that people forget it's just easier to search. At least, I think that's the reason for it being that way)
> 
> Anyways:
> 
> Constructive critism is greatly appreciated! <3


	6. Giving him a Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz realizes her treatment of Gus might have been a little unfair, when the others show clear distrust of him. It doesn't sit right with her and she goes to talk with him.

Willow hesitated, when they got closer to the hushed voices. They couldn’t hear any of the words, just the quiet sound of people whisper-talking. “Luz, I don’t know if I can tell them… It will be the second time I’ve been discovered…”

“I’ll tell them it was my fault,” replied Luz, walking in front of Willow. “It’s not like it couldn’t be, with my luck.” And it truly was some terrible luck she had. Stuck in a house, almost getting found, almost getting found _again_ and then getting both found and caught. “I think Eda will believe it.”

She looked up at her. “But it’s not true, and I don’t want you taking the blame… You were the first to react, if I had just been a little quicker…”

“No, it’s fine, it’s not like it makes any difference to me,” she said it with a swift shrug. “I’m not supposed to be here anyways.” She paused, thinking of anything she could have forgotten. “And it wasn’t your fault; there was no way you could have known what would happen.” She turned around towards the voices. “Now come on.”

Three pairs of eyes immediately focused on them. Eda kept her eyes on Luz. “Ah, you’re back; how did it go?”

“Well…” Luz dragged the word out as she spoke. “We were… kind of… found?”

Eda flung herself up on her feet, but remained quiet. A couple seconds went by, before she got her words out. “What? You can’t be serious,” she stated voice full of annoyance. Willow’s both of dads looked shocked. “What happened exactly?”

Luz had expected a much more hostile reaction. “He caught us, but then I bit him, and he let go of me, but not Willow, so I had to save her.” It was hard for her to speak clearly, being a little unsure of how to explain it. “And then I jumped onto him, trying get him to put her back down on the desk. But he wouldn’t do that, and he fell, and then he caught me again.”

Eda’s ears twitched in irritation, before she interrupted. “Alright, that’s enough. How did you get away?”

“He let us go, because he felt bad.”

Willow spoke up. “He said he wouldn’t report us to animal control.” Her ears were still not in a relaxed position. “But I’m not sure what to do… We can’t leave the house, even if we want to.”

There was a strange feeling in the room, as everyone went quiet.

Luz wasn’t sure what to do. Was she supposed to say something? Everybody else was quiet… She unwrapped the fabric on her arm. Her brow furrowed thinking about; she didn’t want to keep it anymore, but she couldn’t just dump it here. Holding it in her hands, she waited for someone to say something.

The quiet in the room grew more uncomfortable.

Luz felt like she was supposed to do something… but also that she shouldn’t. But Eda spoke up. “If you don’t feel safe staying here you can always come back to my place. Not that it would help much if the bean tells…”

 _Oh, that’s why they are so quiet…_ “I think we can trust that he won’t,” Luz said, earning her the looks of four confused borrowers, before she took a step back. “What? He seemed pretty trustworthy; he let us go on his own!” Her voice was a little louder than she meant for it to be. “He didn’t even try to look where the entrance was!”

Eda sat down again, looking exhausted. “Alright, kid, I assumed you might have been a little naïve, but this is too much.” There was something mixed in with her sarcastic tone that seemed really unlike her; she sounded sad. _She only has that sad tone when we talk about my mom…_ “You should know that you can’t trust beans. Ever. And that’s it.”

Luz ducked her head in shame. “I mean, they can’t all be that bad… What if-”

“There is no ‘what if’ here.” It was clear Eda wanted to leave it on that.

Luz opened her mouth to speak, but this time Willow cut her off. “Luz, you’re wrong.”

Hearing it come from Willow’s mouth, shut her up. “Okay…” But it didn’t change her mind. She trusted that he wouldn’t tell. She had to; otherwise it felt… unfair. He hadn’t intentionally hurt them. Luz was the one who bit _him_. And, in the case he did betray them… _There’s no reason to think he will._ The fact that it meant death for them… It wasn’t something she wanted to think about. “I just don’t understand.”

“Clearly,” snarled Eda, making her flinch a little. _What is with that reaction?_ “If you understood, you wouldn’t be defending that bean. Or any bean ever!”

Involuntarily, she took another step away from them. “Sorry,” she apologized.

It took a moment, before Eda calmed down and turned to the two other adult borrowers. “You’re always welcome to come and stay, if you need to. It’s your old place anyways.”

“Thank you, we’ll consider the offer.”

“We should get going,” said Eda, getting up once again. “Come on, Luz.”

Luz kept quiet, trying to gather her thoughts. Why did the others have such a hatred for beans? Not every single bean could be bad… Was it about not taking the chance? It made sense, but he had proven to at least be willing to let them go. She looked over at Eda for a second. Even she thought if it was wrong, she had to trust the others knew more than her.

Still her mind wasn’t changed. “I don’t get why they all have to be bad…”

Eda tensed, clearly, that was a touchy subject. “This isn’t up for discussion, Luz,” her tone was aggressive, but there still seemed to be that underlying sadness to it. “They aren’t trustworthy, and it’s stupid of you to believe otherwise.”

She knew that it might have been a little stupid to trust _anybody_ that quickly. But he hadn’t seemed dangerous… “Well, you weren’t there with us…” She thought back to what had actually happened. “He just seemed a little too excited.” He had never been the first to try to hurt them. _Unless picking us up counts…_ Luz had been the one to bite him, and had jumped on him.

Eda gave her a judging look, before she turned away.

“Fine, just ignore me.” In order for her not to shout it out, she had to clenched her jaw. She threw the piece of fabric onto one of the small containers; she needed to go make up her mind, if she was going with Gus or continuing to work on the new way out. Turning around to walk out of the room, her mind was filled with thoughts. _This isn’t fair towards him!_ But she also couldn’t shake the thought, that she was the one who was wrong.

Standing by the ladder once again; the thought _really_ hit her that, eventually, she would have to make the choice. It was either, going with the bean or not. She had a feeling it would be best to tell someone, before leaving, but once again; she didn’t want to be stopped. _I shouldn’t make the same mistake._ That only left telling somebody, if she decided to leave… But over that entire argument, she had made up her mind; she would at least have a talk with him. One where she wasn’t so irritated… and less willing to bite him.

She took a glance at the ladder, feeling anxious about… pretty much everything. If she told Eda would she stop her? That was a stupid question; she absolutely would. _Eda did have something to write with… I could leave a message somewhere, where she would look for me._

Having Eda mad at her helped a lot, when taking what she needed. She faced away from her nearly the entire time and didn’t question her, with anything other than a look when she took the thing.

It was tough to pick a spot, but she settled on the wooded structure on the inside of the wall. Writing it was easy; she had learned to write when she was a kid. _Wait… can Eda read?_ She had to hope she could; confronting her about this in person definitely wouldn’t work. And asking her if she could read… that could immediately get her in trouble, if Eda was just suspicious enough of her. _Have I been acting suspicious?_

After some time, she had her message written onto the wall. She read it in her head. _‘I’m meeting the bean, if I don’t come back, don’t go looking for me’._ A little disturbing, if she thought too much about it, but she didn’t want make it any longer than that. She wrote her name on it, just to be completely sure. _‘Luz’._

Now she just had to hope she wouldn’t run into anyone on the other side of the house. And that she could find her way around in there.

Sometimes, she surprised herself with how unpredictable her navigation skills were. One day, she could be a master, the next she was completely lost trying to walk around a corner. That day was one of the latter; and it was not fun. _Was it that way? Or maybe it was back the other way…_

It was confusing, especially when she also had to avoid walking back to Willow’s, and her dads’, place. But eventually she found something she recognized. It had the same design as the other ladders to the peek holes where Eda lived. She climbed up to see where she was.

From the looks of things… that was definitely the living room. And that didn’t help at all to know. She paused, thinking about a little deeper. _His room is upwards from here!_ She gave a quick jumped in excitement of her remembering it.

But it still didn’t help much in where she had to go after that…

It took her multiple looks through the small peek holes, before she found the room she was looking for. Looking around into the room, she noticed he was sleeping. _Of course, he is; it’s night time… Why was he even up so late? He doesn’t look very old._

It took her a moment to gather her courage, before she eventually climbed down the ladder to get into the room. _I’m going to have to wake up a bean…_ The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Even if she knew she could trust him, or at least hoped she could, it was still a scary thought.

The fact that his bed as high up as it was, made it even harder for her to face the fact she would have to wake him. She would have to _really_ try to get up there. But she still threw the hook; not getting it on the first try.

It took her a couple of minutes, but eventually it stuck on. She took a moment to groan, before trying to climb up. _This is going to take a while._

But it was much easier than when she explored around with Willow. It must have warmed her up for it. She was up there quicker than she expected. But standing in front of the beans sleeping form… that was scarier than she could have imagined. Despite her heart beating out of her chest, she walked closer to his face.

 _How am I going to do this?_ Was he a heavy sleeper? How much would it take to wake him up? She didn’t want to get near his hand… Which still had that strange-looking wrap around it. She decided just to yell. “HEY!”

He didn’t react.

That wasn’t good, she would have to somehow get him to wake up. _Maybe I should just take my chances with his hand?_ Feeling hesitant; she stared at it, before giving it a push with her foot. There was a little twitch from his fingers, making her jump back in surprise, but he clearly wasn’t awake.

Her heart needed a moment to calm down. _It’s fine, he’s not going to hurt you… He just twitched his fingers,_ she comforted herself. She gave his hand another shove, with more force than before. “Wake up!”

She noticed him awaking up. “I want to talk!” His eyes went wide.

“Who’s there?” He voice was high with panic, before he nearly knocked her off the bed, turning on the light beside his bed. Blinded for the second time in one night. He let out a surprised gasp. “It’s you! What are you doing here?”

Luz dizzily got back up on her legs, completely blind again. “I wanted to have a chat with you.” Her words were jumbled in uncertainty. Her eyes skimmed around for anything, but it obviously didn’t help.

“Really?” The excitement in his voice was almost unbelievable for someone who was just woken up. But it reminded her a bit of herself… how she would have acted, if she didn’t need to be so quiet all the time. “About what?”

She wobbled a little, but some things were starting to get clearer. “Just about anything, I guess.” She _had_ always been a bit curious about beans.

Both of them were silent for a bit, as Luz’s sight returned. “Sorry about the light earlier, I don’t know if you knew this, but I don’t see as well in the dark as you,” he said, sitting up completely. “Not trying to call you stupid, if you don’t!” He held out his hands defensively.

“I didn’t know that…” But his reaction made a lot more sense.

He brought his hands back down to his sides. “It’s strange that you guys aren’t color-blind… And I’m not saying you’re an animal any sense, but most animals that can see in the dark have bad color vision.” He looked at his hand. “Unless, maybe _you_ are color-blind? I guess you would never know if you were.”

“Not being able to see colors?” She hadn’t heard of that before.

“Not being able to see _some_ colors. It’s very rare to be completely color-blind. That’s something a lot of humans even get wrong! It’s usually just a few colors; like red and green.”

She did understand what he meant when he said human. It was something she was aware of, but bean was the borrower word for them. It could be a little confusing, when she thought too much about it. “How would one know if they were color-blind?” It sounded strange… “Or is it something you can become?”

He shook his head. “It’s something you’re born with.” He paused, before continuing to answer her other question. “There are tests you can take to figure it out. Where you have to see if you can see some numbers in colors. I don’t know, I’ve never taken one.”

She didn’t understand; but she pretended to. “Okay...” That was definitely not what she thought the two would be talking about. It would probably be more interesting, if she understood what it was about. She looked at all the fabrics laying around. “I heard you make something called costumes? What exactly do you make?”

He sprung up from the bed, nearly making Luz trip again. “You want to see? I have a couple of my newest in here!” He opened the big cupboard again, ripping the clothes out of there in excitement. She immediately noticed how much bigger it was than him. But he explained it before she even got to ask any questions. “This one is for one of the older kids from the group! I’m supposed to deliver it when we meet next time!”

He was definitely very proud of it, and it was very well made. “I make them with this thing here!” he exclaimed, pulling something heavy out of the bottom of the big cupboard. He put it down on his desk. “It’s a sewing machine! It makes it much easier to sew, than doing it in hand!”  
“Now, this is just an offer,” he said, placing his hand down with his palm up. “But I can carry you over there if you want a closer look.”

Her eyes fell on his hand, finding that she was surprisingly… not that uncomfortable with the idea. A little hesitant for sure, but, not as scared as she thought she would be. It only took her second more to decide to climb on. That would make it a lot easier, if she was going through with her plan to let him carry her outside later.

He gave a small gasp, and a smile spread across his face. He did his best to keep his hand steady as he walked over the desk. He let Luz walk off as soon as he reached it. “I can’t believe you let me carry you…” he whispered his voice filled with amazement.  
She wasn’t really sure what to make of his excitement, but he quickly got back to the topic. “Anyways, I can show you how it works!”

And so, he did. She understood nothing, but found it fascinating. Even if it was _extremely_ loud. She could only hope that nobody else could hear it. Bean or not.  
He stopped the strange machine, before speaking. “It takes a long time, but it’s how I like to spend a lot of my free time, when I’m not rehearsing.”

Luz didn’t recognize that word. “Rehearsing?”

“Practicing for a…” he stopped for a moment. “I guess I have to explain that too… It’s when you practice for something called a play.” He made air quotes around the word “play”. “That’s when you pretend to be a character in a story, that you perform in front of other people.”

Her ears flicked, as she tilted her head. “Do you like doing those plays?”

His eyes lit up with enthusiasm. “Yeah! I really hope I can be an actor when I grow up! So I can live off it. It wouldn’t be easy, but I’ll try my best!” She smiled; she liked the enthusiasm. He seemed so passionate about it; she couldn’t help but enjoy being around him. So full of energy, like herself. There was a bit of silence between them. “What do you like to do?”

 _What do I like to do?_ “I used to like watching the houses…” Usually she would sit and ponder what it would be like to be a house borrower. “I guess I don’t really know what I would like to do here…” There wasn’t really anything she had enjoyed here when she thought about it. “But I can say what I had to do.”

She told him about most of her chores she had back home, feeling even worse about the fact she had left her mom. _She had to do all that by herself for three days, while I was missing…_ It hurt a lot to think about.

After a bit more talking; she decided to get to the point. “But I have to get back to my mom, and I would still really like to get home.”

He nodded, but looked sad, placing his hand down for her to climb on. “Alright then… I guess we won’t get to talk again.”

Luz looked up at him, before climbing onto his hand once again. “Maybe we could still meet from time to time?” She did like learning about whatever he was talking about. “Sorry I was so quick to judge you earlier, I was just scared of you.”

He walked up to his door while speaking. “It’s okay! I don’t blame you; it must have been scary.”

Soon, Gus stood in the door way with Luz still in his hand. At first, he had taken the wrong door, but it didn’t take long before he got to the right side. “Do you think it’s better, if I help you get home? There might be some dangerous animals out here.”

She wasn’t sure… It was alright with her, but if her mother wasn’t asleep… She wouldn’t want to scare her by showing up with a bean. “I don’t know… I don’t want to my mom to worry, if she sees you.” She definitely shared the belief that beans were not to be trusted. “But it does sound safer…”  
It took her a couple minutes to decide. “Maybe you can follow behind me? I don’t think anything would try to catch me, if you were near.”

He let her walk of his hand once again. “Yes! I’ll do that!” He took something out of a pocket. “I’m going to need some light. It’s going to be bright in a moment.” He warned, before a light flickered on once again. It was coming from the thing he was holding.

As soon as she was back on the ground; she felt at home. The smells and the air; it was wonderful to know she was back outside. The trees surrounding them where an unbelievably comforting sight. She knew exactly where she was; the path from her home to the houses, was a place she could never get lost.

She ran, not wanting to have him shuffling slowly behind her. And because she needed to get some of her energy out. But, for some reason, under all the excitement, she was still feeling really nervous about going home… What would her mom think? Would she scold her for what had happened? _No, I don’t think she will… I hope she won’t._

It didn’t take long before they were as close as Luz would let him get. She didn’t want to leave him without a proper goodbye, even if he was a bean. _Maybe I could give something to him… Like one of the sharp rocks. That wouldn’t be suspicious, if someone else found it…_ “Wait here; I want to give you something!”

She hurried back to her home, but as soon as she got there; panic grabbed her. Her eyes widened in fear, and a sense of disbelief spread through her. _This can’t be right!_ she thought, before rushing to the next room. _Please be here!_

But just like the other one; it was completely vacant. There was no trace anybody had ever lived there.

Her mom was _gone_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back earlier than I expected! I couldn't keep myself from writing! This has technically been ready since Sunday (11-10-2020), but I didn't want to proofread before today.
> 
> Just so we're clear; from now on I don't really care about keeping the characters... well... in character. I can't do that because my story is a little more grounded in "reality", and not as insane as the actual series. A lot of weird stuff happens in TOH, and I write very grounded stories... Usually.  
> And I know that you can become color-blind through diseases, but Gus doesn't. It's not common knowledge; I only know it because I looked it up for this story. I wanted to know if you could become it, because I had a hunch that it was possible, if something happened to the eyes. But I decided not to include it, since it would be weird if he knew that.
> 
> Also if you're not following my tumblr; the Blight childrens' pets have official names now  
> (on a tumblr post; the pets haven't been mentioned by name yet in the story)  
> My tumblr is obsessivefinch  
> All the rest of the random info/details are under the " Borrower AU " tag on my blog. And I made a quick sketch of the cat that almost killed Luz too. I didn't have anything better to do.
> 
> Also expect about a weeks wait between updates. I don't have a schedule, but I know that it takes me around five days to write a 3k word chapter.
> 
> But as always: Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! <3  
> And if you notice a grammatical error in the story; please let me know! It's really appreciated! <3


	7. Numbed with Noises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz is devastated at her mother being gone, but her night is only getting worse.

She couldn’t believe her eyes; her mom had moved away. Her mom had left without her. How could she do that? What drove her to do that? Tears started prickling at the corners of her eyes. _No, this has to be a bad dream!_ Where was her mother? She took a couple steps back, nearly falling over. About to turn around and run away; she noticed a familiar sound.

It was the jingling of the cat’s bell.

For a second, absolute horror struck her, as the thought that the sharp-clawed beast had gotten her mom hit her. But she soon realized that was unlikely; the cat wouldn’t take all their stuff. It was just an animal. Her mother had just moved… That was at least a little comforting…

Why would she move away? Was it because of the cat? One question kept repeating in her mind. _How could she leave without me?_ Had she assumed her daughter was dead? The first few tears trickled down her cheeks, as the jingling grew louder. _I should get away from here…_

She wasn’t sure, if she could make it over to Gus with the cat right there. It didn’t take a genius to figure that yelling for him would be a bad idea. She was trapped there. _Stupid cat! This is all your fault!_ She needed something to blame, other than herself.

The jingling continued to grow louder, as her panic began to set in more. Did the cat know where she was? She didn’t want to die! Peeking out of her hiding spot, her heart jumped into her throat. The creature was looked straight at her.

She went completely still, hoping the cat would lose interest. If she didn’t look like anything alive; it might not want to eat her. But as it crouched into a pouncing position, she knew she was wrong. “GUS! HELP!” she screamed out, hoping the bean could hear her.

Living in under a tree had its benefits. Like being able to escape a cat that wanted to kill you. But seeing it stick its paw into the entrance was petrifying. There was another exit, but she wasn’t sure it was safe to risk it. Maybe she should give it a try… it was better than staying here until the cat _somehow_ made its way farther in.

She peeked out once again, before carefully climbing out. Her every step had to be as quiet as possible, as she made her getaway. Her ears were shifted towards every little shuffle and breath from the cat at the tree roots. She held her own breath, trying her hardest not to make any noise at all.

She thought not being able to find her mother would be the end of her back luck, but she was wrong. Before she even had proper time to realize it; the cat was sprinting towards her. She only had a couple of seconds to get out of the way, before the cat was going to crash down on top of her.

“GUS!” she screamed again. “HELP! CAT!” It hit her that there was no way she could get away on her own; the cat was too fast and strong. A singular strong hit with one of those paws could probably break her neck. And that wasn’t even considering the claws.

She sprinted with all her energy, but the cat was still faster. “PLEASE!” The cat smacked her to the side, making her roll twice her height. She could barely breathe; desperately trying to get up on her feet again. Her entire body was trembling, when she realized there was next to no chance, that she would make it out alive, if Gus didn’t come. “GUS!”

The cat smacked her again, just as she got up. It confused her why it was taking so long for it to kill her, even if she wasn’t complaining. She thought it would have been stronger. Her heart was racing, as she once again tried to get up on her feet. She didn’t want to die.

But there was not nearly enough energy left in her body to. Everything that had happened; it was all too much. Exploring the house, fighting a bean, running around and now getting caught in the paws of a cat. The only thing she could hope for was Gus coming to the rescue. “HELP!”

His light shone down on her and the cat. “Luz!” His voice was filled to the brim with panic. “Get away from her!” He shouted at the cat, but it didn’t seem to care. Of course, it didn’t; it _was_ just an animal. He swiped out after it with his foot, shooing it away, before scooping Luz up in his hand. She had never expected to be thankful to be in the hand of a bean. “Sorry, I almost couldn’t hear you! Are you okay? What happened?”

She knew she should probably respond, but she felt drained of all life. “My mom wasn’t there,” she replied feeling her tears run down her cheeks. It hurt more when she tried to think about it. “She left.”  
Gus went quiet. Luz couldn’t do anything, she laid down in his hand, continuing to cry. _I want my mom!_ It sounded childish, but she had missed her, and worried for her, but she wasn’t even there when she came back.

She sat back up in his hands, looking down at the ground trying to spot the cat again; but it had run off. “Thank you for saving me…” she said, scratching her ear. It comforted her a little to feel the short fur brush against her fingertips. “I… I thought that was going to be it for a moment there.”

“Of course, I’d save you; I wasn’t just going to leave you to die!” But Luz wasn’t really concentrating on his words. What was she going to do? How was she going to find her mom? There was no saying where she could be. Not a single hint as far as she could tell. And if Gus was still with her; that wouldn’t help at all. Unless her mother would try to come running to rescue her, but that was only if she was awake… “What is your plan now? Do you need to get back in the walls or…?”

“I need to get back inside.” It was her only option at that moment. She was running on low energy; she wasn’t even sure, that she could make it all the way back to Eda’s room. Maybe she could sleep in his room? It was risky, if a parent or something went in to check on him. But at this point; she couldn’t care less.

Her entire body was slowly beginning to ache. The batting around the cat had given her hurt more than just a couple seconds ago. Everything felt sore, and she let herself rest against on Gus’ fingers. That was not how she had planned the night should have gone. And quickly she felt even more tears starting to form. She should have been with her mother now.

“I’ll get you back inside,” he said, before giving her a sympathetic look. “I wish I could help… but I would probably just make it worse…”

Luz had decided it was better to get back to Eda. Gus stood crouch in the living room, with that room being the easiest for her to navigate. He, once again, let her walk off his hand.

But she barely had the energy to stand up, every muscle in her body felt weak. She hadn’t felt like this, since… ever. She had never felt as exhausted and tired, as she did at that time. But as Gus spoke, she strained her ears to listen. “Well… I hope you figure everything out, Luz. If you need anything; I’ll be there to help!”

Luz nodded with a tired smile. “Thank you for…” she took a moment to finish the thought, not really feeling like herself anymore, “what you did.” She made sure he had left, before walked to the nearest door. She didn’t need Willow to lose more trust in her, than she probably had by talking to the bean who captured them.

Before she made it all the way back to Eda’s place; she realized the message was still there. Of course, how would it go away? Now she _had_ to explain herself. The thought was more exhausting than anything else. Or maybe that was because she was already so tired. She felt like falling over and sleeping on the spot.

Looking down the pathway; she wondered if Eda had already seen the message. Had she listened to the message? _Could_ she read? That question was once again back on her mind. She would probably find out soon… At the very least she could ask.

Eda sat where she usually did, only looking at Luz for a second. But her head quickly snapped back up again. “What happened to you?”

 _Right, I probably don’t look that good right now._ She didn’t have the energy to tell her what had happened. And she definitely couldn’t face the fact that her mom was gone. “I don’t think you want to know.” She wanted to leave at that, but Eda wouldn’t let her.

“Yes, I do, tell me what happened.”

Luz wanted to shout at her, but quickly realized that wouldn’t solve anything. In fact, it could only make things worse. “I-” she started, when her mind fell back to her previous thoughts. “-wait, can you read?”

Eda raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to change the subject?” she asked, pausing briefly. “But, yes, I can read.”

“Oh, that’s good to know,” replied Luz. _Wish I had known that sooner…_ Not for any real reason; she would just have like to know. “And I wasn’t trying to change the subject. It’s actually a little relevant?” She pondered about whether it was better to show her the message or not. “And please don’t get mad at me…” she suddenly felt extremely reluctant to tell her about what she had been up to. “Promise you won’t get mad at me? I’ve had a really bad night already…”

There was a bit of hesitation, before Eda spoke. “I promise.” Her ears hung for just a second, before they returned to a neutral position. “Now what happened?” Her tone was almost sweet or, at the very least, softer than normal.

Luz sat down on Eda’s bed, and took a deep breath to gather some courage. “I went back to talk with the bean,” she started, keeping her eyes on Eda, waiting for her to react, but the only thing that happened was that she pressed her ears against her head. In fear, seemingly; that confused Luz, but she continued. “We talked for a little bit, before I brought up the fact that I needed to get back outside.”

Luz messed with the hood of her shirt, as she knew she had to tell Eda about the fact that Eda’s friend and her own mother was gone. “He did let me outside, and I had left a message for you, in case I wouldn’t need to come back. Or it turned out I was wrong about trust Gus.” She paused. “That’s the beans name. Either way that was why I asked, if you could read.”

Eda listened patiently, but Luz could tell she was growing worried.

“I let him follow me some of the way to my home.” Luz tightened her grip on her hood. “I promised to get him something from my home, something small and not very suspicious…” she had to take another deep breath, but it was much shakier than she thought it would be. “But when I got there everything was gone… My mom was gone… There was no trace anybody had ever even lived there…” Again, the tears were coming on.

“And right after that, I was attacked by the cat again.” When she recalled it, it was a lot scarier to think about. That was what set her tears flowing. “I ran all I could, but it still managed to catch up to me. I would have died, if Gus hadn’t saved me.” How could she _ever_ thank him enough for that?

Eda was completely quiet for an awkward amount of time. Luz kept her eyes on her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. But eventually she grew more and more drowsy, until she couldn’t even sit up straight. She laid down on the bed, closing her eyes, quickly realizing she wouldn’t be able to stay awake for much longer. She just wanted to sleep; in some ways she hoped that it was all a dream and she would wake up next to her mother any minute. But she knew that that wasn’t the case; her body was aching too much for that.

Before completely dozing off; she could just barely feel Eda pull the blanket around her.

Knowing how it felt to run for her life made her nightmares so much worse… It wasn’t the owl nightmare. It was about that girl with the tree-like hair; Amity. She had apparently been more on her mind than she thought. It was mainly a sound-based nightmare. Mostly hearing the threatening yell of that girl. She had terrified her more than Luz expected.

It didn’t help that she also knew how it felt to be squeezed by a beans hand, when the frightening girl caught her for the first time. Her mind was able to recreated it to a chillingly realistic point. No real pressure was felt, but in the dream; everything else felt so real. Like dreaming about getting stabbed through the hand with a thorn; her brain filled in the lack of pain with pure dread and fear.

Amity, in the dream, had found her out in the forest; the place Luz knew the best, both in her dreams and in her wake. The bean was yelling nonsense at her. About berries, for some reason, but it was still almost as scary as the owl nightmare. Her voice kept changing from the one she remembered to Luz’s own. It was filling in the gaps where she didn’t know how she would sound like.

It was mostly the absurdity of it all that made it scary; it was just loud and confusing. It felt as if her head was exploding with the noises in her mind. It was like a hundred sounds were in her head at once; the noise of the sewing machine, the cat’s bell up close, the cupboard slamming and, obviously, Amity’s yelling. And that was only some of the loudest noises.

There were different types of clicks and pops. Scratching against wood the writing tool and distant screeches of hawks, before the faceless figure, who she knew was Amity, caught her again. Her eyes widened and her heart raced, as the hand tightened its grip. She realized that she couldn’t move or scream or do anything at all to fight back.

She woke up with a jolt going through her entire body. It felt like she had just fallen down from somewhere high up. Her body felt so much worse; she closed her eyes again, but she didn’t feel like sleeping anymore. She pushed the blanket off herself, looking for Eda. She sat where she had early.

The two watched each other, before Luz broke the eye contact. It felt awkward after what she had done. Running back to speak with Gus, even though Eda had told her not to trust him. Luz might have been right about him not being bad. But that change the fact that Eda clearly held some sort of grudge against beans. Luz found her voice after a couple of second. It hurt to speak. “How long have I slept?”

“A couple hours… Are you okay? You were breathing really fast.”

“I was having a nightmare…” It slowly vanished from her mind; she could only remember the scariest parts of it. “Amity was chasing me and yelling things at me… It felt like a bunch of noises mixed together and I couldn’t focus on any of them.” She felt her exhaustion kick back in, but despite she still didn’t feel ready to sleep. She was scared of the noises; she didn’t want to hear them ever again.

Eda fell quiet again.

It took Luz a couple seconds to want to speak. “Why do you hate beans?” It might have seemed strange, with her just having a nightmare about one, but that was no reason to hate them all.

Eda looked at her. “That’s a very personal question for me, Luz.”  
She figured. Maybe it had been a little invasive to ask. “But about your mother…” There was a desperate look in her eyes. “Do you have any clue as to what happened?”

“I don’t know… The cat was there before I could think about anything other than my mom being gone.” She hadn’t even thought to look around. “But it’s not like Gus couldn’t let me outside again for another look. He said he would help me in any way he could.”

Eda glared at her. “I don’t think it’s smart of you.” Luz was confused by her words; her attitude sure changed quickly. “But I have a feeling you won’t listen to me.”

“Of course not!” exclaimed Luz, immediately getting defensive of the boy. “I trust him. Call me naïve, if you want, but I know I can trust him!” There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that that was the right decision. “I’m doing this my way!” _He’s a good person; he would never betray me._

Eda gave a quick nod, but quickly changed the subject. “Did the cat scratch you?”

Luz shook her head. “No, it batted me across the ground. It didn’t use its claws.”  
Eda kept quiet again; the tension from the entire night was as strong as ever. Luz felt like she should apologize, but she wasn’t sorry. She would probably only make Eda madder at her, because definitely wouldn’t stay away from him. “Have you heard anything from the others?”

“No, they probably need a while to figure out what they want to do.”

She felt bad about everything that had happened to them. Willow probably thought she and her dads were going to die. It would be nice, if they could just believe in her judgement, but Luz knew that she was the one with the least prior experience with beans. And Willow had had a really bad experience with one herself. One who had by the sounds of it betrayed her. The thought made Luz pause for a second, but she quickly shoved the thought back out. Gus was a good person. She was sure he would never betray her. If he wanted her dead; he could have let the cat kill her.

She laid down again, feeling a bit more at peace. Sure, her mom was gone, and there was seemingly no way to figure out how to get back to her. But she had a friend who could help her outside any time she needed it, and hopeful another borrower her age to talk to. But her exhaustion was kicking in full force again; it was time to get some sleep and let her sore muscles rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's something kind of important: should this be upped to a teen rating? I'm not good at ratings, so I'm not sure if this is still under general. I think it is? I just want to make sure.
> 
> Also if the story goes how I think I'm going to make it go (I can't predict that myself) Lumity most likely won't be happening. Luz clearly has an underlying fear of Amity, hence the nightmare. Maybe I can make it work, but then Amity has to be an absolute sweetheart who never gets angry, but I don't think is going to happen.
> 
> The title is mostly a reference to Luz's nightmare, because I couldn't come up with anything better.
> 
> I don't remember anything else important to note, so...  
> As always:
> 
> Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! <3  
> And if you notice any grammatical errors: please let me know!


	8. Learning Stuff about Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz had to rest for an entire night, but now she's back to her old self and feeling a whole lot more optimistic.

Luz needed an entire day to recover. It helped a lot to talk with Eda. They still strongly disagreed on whether or not Gus could be trusted. But they eventually agreed to disagree. There were more important issues they had to deal with.

While Eda had been out borrowing Luz spend most of the day in bed. A lot of her thoughts had centered around her mother, but mostly she just slept. She even had a nice dream for once, but it had already faded from her memory.

But it was already the next night, and Luz was feeling was way better. Both physically and mentally. She took a couple minutes to stretch out some of the worse spots, but, overall, she felt a lot more optimistic. _I can do this!_ she thought. _I’ll find my mom, no matter how long it takes!_

There was a strange knocking sound coming from somewhere down the pathway. Eda’s ears flicked towards the noise, before she got up from her seat. Luz only recognized what she was doing, when she returned the noise. _It’s the others!_

She felt all bouncy, as she thought about the chance to see Willow again. But her ears drooped; realizing Willow probably wasn’t doing that well.

The family of three walked into the room. And just as Luz expected; Willow looked worse than last time, she saw her. “We have decided it’s better to stay here.” One of the dads said, looking down at his daughter, who kept her gaze on the ground.

Luz had promised Eda not to bring up Gus around… mainly Eda, but she assumed it was best to just keep the subject off the table entirely. But she didn’t know what else to talk about. It was nagging on her, that the others were so _scared_ , but she knew that they could trust him. She wanted them to _listen_ to her. She wanted to tell them everything was going to be alright.

But she couldn’t. And even if she could; they wouldn’t believe her. That was something she would have to respect.

Willow looked up at her, snapping her out of her thoughts, before giving her a worried smile. “Hi, Luz.”

“Hi, Willow!” She hugged the other girl enthusiastically. Despite Willow’s situation; Luz was really happy to see her again. Willow hugged her back. Luz let go, and before she really got to think her words through, she spoke up. “How are you doing?”

There was a brief awkward pause, as Willow took a step back. “I’m not really doing that good…” she said, looking down to the ground again. “But you seem to be in a great mood.”

Luz felt hesitant; she didn’t want to accidentally talk about Gus. “Yeah, I…” She couldn’t figure out a reasonable response, that wouldn’t involve her other friend. “Wait, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” She didn’t want Willow to be sad.

Willow shook her head. “It’s fine, Luz; I’ll get over it eventually.” But both her head and ears hung. Willow glanced up for a second. “Don’t give me that look! I promise; I’ll be fine.” Her tone wasn’t very convincing.

“If you need to talk about it-” But Willow cut her off.

“I’m going to be fine!” she insisted, her voice getting a little louder. “It’s just a little much right now.” Willow looked away again.

Luz nodded, feeling slightly awkward, but nothing she couldn’t get over. If Willow didn’t want to talk about it, so be it. Maybe she would open up eventually… But she wouldn’t push it. What else could they talk about? There wasn’t much Luz could come up with that wouldn’t be a sensitive subject for either her or Willow.

Willow’s gaze fell on the piece of fabric, Luz had slung over the container. Her brow furrowed for a moment. “You wanted to keep that? After what happened?” She questioned.

Luz’s ears stood up in a panic. “No!” she replied louder than she meant to. “I mean, no, I just don’t know where I should…” she wasn’t sure what to say. It actually wasn’t on purpose she kept it; she had completely forgotten she had tossed it there. “I didn’t know where to put it away.”

One of Willow’s dads cleared his throat, as he tried to get their attention.

“Oh, right. Come on, Luz, my parents need to talk with Eda,” said Willow, turning around, Luz following right after her.

They walked out in the walls. Both of them felt awkward. “So… You lived here before?”

“Yes, but it’s been a long time,” she replied, but she seemed a little distracted. Her ears flicked strangely. “Why did Eda put that thing on the wall?” Luz looked at where Willow was pointing. “I saw it on the way in earlier, but I didn’t think much of it. Do you know why it’s there?”

It was where Luz had written the message. Eda had luckily covered it up with a piece of paper. But her heart was racing. “I-I don’t know.” Her voice quivered a little, before she tried to play it off. Willow didn’t know there was a message on the other side. “I mean, I don’t know, it seems pretty random.”

“I guess it does,” replied Willow, walking closer to it. “Why are you so nervous, Luz?” She looked over at her, with concern in her eyes. “Is something wrong? You don’t have to pretend you’re not scared…”

“Scared of what?” _Why would she think I am scared?_ Maybe she was acting really strange.

“Of that…” Willow froze up for a bit, “bean we met. He didn’t hurt you too badly, did he?”

“No!” she exclaimed, once again, louder than she meant to. “He didn’t! Can we not talk about it?” She didn’t want to make Willow uncomfortable by talking about it.

“Luz, it’s alright to be scared…” Willow placed a hand on Luz arm, trying to comfort her. Luz felt weird, before she gently pulled her arm away.

“No, that’s not the what this is about.” Maybe Willow would drop the subject, if Luz told her how she felt about him? “I still trust him, and I don’t want to argue about this. I know he can be trusted.” And she knew she owed him her life.

Willow looked annoyed, but not as uncomfortable as Luz thought she would be. “I guess you might be right… he hasn’t told anybody yet by the looks of things. But you still shouldn’t meet up with him.”  
Luz kept quiet, as Willow watched her. “Wait… Luz, what did you do?”

It was easier to just rip the paper of the wall. “It’s easier, if you just read it.”

The other girl read the message fast. Luz managed to put the paper back in place, before Willow sighed. “You already did it…” But her head immediately snapped back to Luz. “Wait! Why are you still here? Is your mom alright?” Willow’s eyes were wide with panic. “How did you get back in here?”

“Gus let me back in,” started Luz, but Willow interrupted her.

“He let you back in?”

“Yes, he did,” she confirmed, before continuing. “But I don’t know if my mom is alright; everything was just… gone!” She kept her voice quiet, “It looked like nobody had ever lived there…” She felt a pang of sadness in her chest, but she quickly shook it off. Everything was going to be fine. Sure, the world was much bigger than Luz could comprehend… but her mother couldn’t have gotten that far, if she had to grab all their stuff. Even if it wasn’t a lot, it would still be difficult to carry.

Willow fell quiet just as Luz did.

It took a couple minutes of silence, before one of them spoke up. “Oh, right and the cat was back. I kinda owe Gus my life.”

Willow looked at her. “He saved you from the cat?” she paused for a moment, thinking over Luz words. “If he wanted you dead…” her eyes widened, as she continued to think out loud. “He would have just left you to die.”

Luz nodded. _Willow got it!_ She couldn’t help but give a little jump with excitement, but then she realized it was sort of bad timing. “Yes! I mean, but he didn’t! He saved me from the cat!”

“So, you’re saying we can trust this bean?” Something in Willow’s voice suddenly changed to skepticism. “I have already told you that beans are not everything they look like.” Luz tilted her head, but before she could speak, Willow continued. “Maybe he just wants to keep you as a fancy pet.”

“What?” Why had that thought even cross Willow’s mind? “He’s not going to make me his pet!” The thought of being locked up in some cage was disgusting. She hated that it. “Why would you think that?”

Willow paused. “Somebody once told me that was something beans do…” There was a hesitance in her voice. “Maybe they were just messing with me.”

Who could have told her that? Her dads? Why would they know that? But no, she said they might have said it to mess with her… her dads probably wouldn’t do that. And she could have just asked, if she was unsure. She was being oddly ambiguous again. “Who told you that?” asked Luz curiously; who else could the girl know?

But Willow just looked away. A couple seconds went by, before she spoke. “Does it matter? It’s not like you believe that bean will do it.”

 _That was a little rude… Did I ask something too personal?_ Luz still wondered where she heard that, when a thought hit her. _Maybe it’s about her old family? That could make sense._ “How long have you lived with your dads? Eda told me they took you in.”

Willow looked up at her in confusion, but she quickly composed herself. _I hope that wasn’t too personal…_ “I have lived with my dads for about as long as I remember.” _Okay, so those are not the who told her that…_ “Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious,” she said with a quick shrug. “Isn’t it strange?” But after the words left her mouth; she reconsidered what she was saying. “Or, I guess you don’t really know anything other than that… Never mind, you don’t have to answer that.” Luz withdrew shyly. “Are your dads nice? I don’t know my own dad.”

“I’d say my dads are nice. We mean a lot to each other.”

Luz nodded. Her mother meant a lot to her too. Even if she had doubted how much she meant to her mom the last night and the night before that. But she ended up coming to the conclusion that it was because the cat was there. Her mother would never leave her without reason. “My mom means a lot to me too.” She still needed to figure out when would be the best time to look for her. “I miss her.”

Willow ears hung again. “I hope you find her…”

“It’s fine, I know I will.” Luz was sure of that. “I just need to figure out when is the time…” she thought out loud. _It should probably be in the daytime..._ So it would have to be the next day at the very least... She snapped back to the conversation. “I mean, I just miss her… a lot.” It hurt to feel it again. “But I’ll get back to her.”

Willow gave her a careful smile. “I’m going to miss you, when you leave.”

Luz hadn’t thought about it like that. “Oh, right, well, maybe I could still get back to visit?” She didn’t want to leave Willow or Gus, even if she hadn’t known them for long. It was nice knowing somebody besides her mom and a sarcastic adult. “But it will probably be some time, before that even _happens_.”

Willow took a deep breath through her nose. _Is she smelling the air?_ “I think someone’s in the kitchen,” she whispered, once again, her ears pressed against her head.

Luz sniffed the air too. There was a scent of food in the air, even inside the walls. It smelled good, but who would be in the kitchen in the middle of the night? Or wait… Eda had told Luz that Amity was up at really weird times of night. _I wonder what she’s doing…_ She had to admit the despite her fear of the bean; she was intrigued by her.

She wanted to see, if she was right. But she was also scared of getting caught. Again. “I want to see who it is!” she exclaimed in a whisper, quickly running up to the ladder, but Willow ran after her, grabbing her arm.

“Luz, don’t be stupid!” she hissed out in a quiet tone that reminded Luz of Eda’s. “The beans here are all horrible!” Her ears shifted from sadness to anger, as she spoke. “It was this house I was found, if you didn’t remember!”

“Relax, it’s going to be fine!” But Willow didn’t let go. “I’ll be careful, I promise…” Her grip only tightened. She felt her trembling, while she held her arm.

“Please, trust me on this…” Luz stopped pulling against her, when Willow eyes were glozing over with tears.

Luz took a step back from the ladder, seeing her like that convinced her it was a bad idea. “Do you want to tell me about what happened exactly?” Willow shook her head, as the first tears fell. “Alright, how about we go for a little walk? In the walls, of course.”

The two girls walked in silence, but it wasn’t necessary awkward. It was nice for Luz to rest her ears a little, and just let her thoughts flow freely.

There was a lot on her mind… She had just told Willow about Gus… And she wasn’t angry with her because of it. It was calming to know, that Willow didn’t hate her after that.

She looked at Willow. She was really curious as to what had happened between her and the beans who lived in the house. She seemed terrified at the thought of Luz just going to see who the bean was. Maybe it had been a stupid thought; she had barely avoided being caught both times she saw Amity. And if the beans were more dangerous than Gus; she shouldn’t risk it.

 _They must have tried to report her…_ Willow had been caught alone last time by how she phrased it the night before yesternight. _Isn’t it going to be uncomfortable to stay back for her? To stay in the place where she had been caught_? Luz questioned in her head, as she felt concern grow in her.

She didn’t want to bring the topic back again already. For now; they could just enjoy the quiet walk next to each other. If it wasn’t possible to get back, after she found her mom; she might as well enjoy the time she had with the shorter borrower.

Before they got back to Eda’s room the smell of food had grown stronger. _Is somebody seriously cooking?_ It seemed really late for that… If that was Amity… Luz almost got concerned for the bean, but she remembered how scary and mean she could be. She glanced at Willow, wondering what she thought of it. She looked confused too, as she looked up the ladder.

She didn’t need to say it, before Luz could tell what she was thinking. It was the same thought going through both of them. _How strange…_ But they didn’t spend anymore time thinking about it.

When they got a little further away, Luz asked, “Why do you think the bean is up so late?” Cooking in the middle of the night seemed really strange for a bean… weren’t they supposed to be awake in the **daytime**? Maybe it wasn’t as late as she thought? She wasn’t really sure how late it was… and it was getting around the time for shorter days. Did beans go to bed by the sun or did they follow their own schedule? Were they like birds? _I could ask Gus!_ She felt excited at the thought. _I have a bean as a friend!_

But Willow snapped her back to the conversation. “I don’t know… Gus was up pretty late too,” she said, thinking it over. Her voice quieted down as she thought out loud. “He was up later than he usually was…” Her ears shifted downwards. “I should never have…” her voice faded out a little.

Luz guessed what she was talking about. “Hey, it’s fine… He ended up helping me! I would still have to work on a new exit.” _Maybe I still should be doing that…_ “It’s okay that you didn’t think of it. I’d say it worked out pretty well!” She gave Willow a quick hug, making the other girl smile.  
It was nice to see her smile; it made Luz feel really happy. “Do you think the others are done talking?”

“We can check,” said Willow, moving closer to Eda’s room.

The others were still talking, when Luz and Willow came to check, but they didn’t shoo them away. Seemingly they were done with whatever they needed them to leave to talk about. “Wait, I actually have a question for you, Willow.”

Luz waited for Willow to come back out of the room. “Is it uncomfortable to be back here? It might actually be safer back where you live.” The house they were in at that moment _had_ been where she had been discovered… It had to be a little scary to be back.

Willow’s ears drooped again. “Maybe it is… But I wouldn’t be able to convince my dads, if I tried.” She took a deep breath. “And, yes, it is… I don’t know how to describe it… it’s not just uncomfortable…” she paused again, looking down the path. “It’s unnerving, and it’s painful… very painful,” she continued, grabbing the sleeve of her own shirt. “But you don’t have to worry about me.”

It wasn’t going to be that easy. Knowing that her friend was feeling like that, didn’t feel good. But she could respect the girl didn’t want her to _show_ she was worried. Luz nodded, before turning back towards the room. “Well, we could try to convince them, if you want?”

Willow gave a gloomy smile. “I guess we could, but don’t get upset if they won’t listen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to speed the story up a little from now on... Just so that I don't get a situation like chapter 4 to 7. That was a lot of stuff for one night...
> 
> And yes, Amity was cooking in the middle of the night. Why? I don't know; I was kinda stuck on that part, so I needed something for the characters to think about. Adding a little conflict one might say. And, also, no, Willow isn't trying to manipulate Luz in that scene; she's just really really scared for her.
> 
> Amity does eat; her parents are not starving her. She just feels more comfortable at night, if that wasn't clear. It's when her rats are awake too. She doesn't have to worry about every little thing she's doing. Except making noises. She's a little bit of a mess in this, and that was planned ever since chapter 2.
> 
> Also I just remembered I haven't described borrowers' ears before. They are very bat-like in shape, but way smaller (vampire bat-like, specifically) There is fur/hair on the back of them. Luz has inherited smaller ears from her mom, but it's not very noticeble. It's just a small detail I wanted to add here. Maybe I'll mention it eventually in the story, if she's compared to someone else.
> 
> Also, I know that I switched between parents and dads; I didn't want to correct it. You get what I mean by it anyways. Also WORD FLIPPING KEEPS TRYING TO CORRECT ME WHEN I WRITE DADS!!! It's so flipping annoying... It wants me to write dad's, but that doesn't even make sense in the context of the sentences!  
> Also also, Willow does know she's adopted. The "about" is very important there. Luz did not drop a bomb shell on her; she's just confused as to where that came from. It's not like Willow would know that men can't have children otherwise... Which is why I'm noting this. Her reaction could be read that way.


	9. Failed Attempts and a Tiny bit of Success

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The attempt to get Willow's parents to listen, only resulted in Luz effectively getting grounded. But that doesn't mean she isn't against sneaking out to meet Gus while the others sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight trigger warning: there's a bit of blood in this chapter? 
> 
> It's a very little amount and not at all graphic... But proceed with caution, if blood makes you uncomfortable!

The two girls tried their best to convince the pair of dads, but it was useless. Eda wasn’t on their side either… But she mostly just stayed out of it entirely. She only said she was fine with them staying there, if that was what they wanted.

Luz felt herself getting more frustrated, not having them listen to her. But she remembered what Willow said. _Don’t get upset if they won’t listen,_ her mind repeated. But it was a lot harder than it sounded. She was definitely getting upset.

The two of them walked back out on the path. “We gave it a shot, Luz, I can stay here.” But she really didn’t seem very keen on the idea. “But we should probably tell them a bean is awake.”

Luz nodded, still slightly frustrated. But the feeling was flickering in and out. “That would be a good idea…”

That went a little better. After telling them; they spent most of the night in Eda’s room, except for getting the families beds.

But they had to get out the eventually. One of Willow’s dads stayed behind to keep an eye on them. Mostly Luz, after the entire discussion. Luz had been really passionate about defending Gus, immediately having forgotten her promise to Eda. It had definitely caused the fact that she had to stay behind.

 _She can’t be trusted not to approach the beans,_ she remembered one of Willow’s dads saying. Worst thing was, that it wasn’t even that far off what she almost did back when the smell of food first entered the kitchen.

She looked over at Willow; who was sitting on one of the beds, they had carried in earlier.

Willow got to stay back there with Luz; it was a bit of a compromise. Not that either Willow or Luz were very happy with it. Willow accepted that that was as far they got with it. It took a lot longer for Luz to be fine with it. More specifically; it took the end of the discussion. And even after that, she didn’t like the outcome.

She sat at the table with her head in her hands. _This is so unfair!_ She couldn’t help but think. _Why won’t they listen?_ It clearly wasn’t the safest option for the family, but they still wouldn’t go back. She slumped down on her arms, feeling exhausted. _Why can’t they just understand?_

Willow sat down next to her. “Luz, it’s fine,” she started, while Luz turned to her ear towards her, “you don’t have to worry about it. It went better than I thought it would!” Luz looked up at her, seeing her forcing a smile. “Even if I’m still not happy with the result...”

Luz sighed, looking away again. She had thought the two borrowers would have listened. Why would they not? Willow didn’t even seem entirely on her side… She kept trying to avoid the fact that it made her as uncomfortable, as it did. It confused Luz. “If you’re not happy with the result, why did you stop there?”

“I didn’t think we could change their minds,” admitted Willow nervously. “Sometimes, it’s better to know when to quit.”

Luz could see where she was coming from. She lifted her head, giving a quick glance over to Willow’s dad, who seemed to be watching what they were doing. And listening to their conversation. He spoke up, “Luz, the discussion is over.”

Again, she laid her head down on her arms. She didn’t even get to say what she wanted to. She looked at Willow for a couple seconds. _You should tell them how it makes you feel…_ It confused her, when she hadn’t earlier. There was not nearly as much feeling in it, as when she said it to her.

Thinking back to it; she only said it made her a little uncomfortable. That was clearly not the truth. Or at least not what she had told Luz. She didn’t get why she was making it sound less serious than it was. _Maybe she doesn’t want to worry her dads… That’s probably it._

Either way, she couldn’t discuss it anymore. Meaning that her head was going to be filled with thoughts for the rest of the night. She probably wouldn’t be frustrated by them, but they would still sit in there and annoy her.

She was starting to consider visiting Gus again, but it had to be while the others were asleep. They would definitely try to stop her… She should probably take a nap, if that was the case. Her took a deep breath, resting her head in the elbow of her arm, and tried to clear her head to sleep.

She passed in and out of sleeping. It felt more like really vivid daydreaming. It was a bit surreal. It felt like a dream, but at the same time she was still half awake. It was just a bunch of small moments flashing in her mind; none of them really connected to each other.

There was one of the blackberry bushes, she had stung herself, on when she was younger, but all the berries were on the ground. Which she knew wasn’t right. They weren’t like nuts; the berries stayed on the bushed until they dried out. But it quickly shifted to the cat she had encountered.

She jolted awake, finding it hard to focus on anything. _What is happening?_ Everything felt fake, but she still knew she wasn’t sleeping anymore. She blinked, trying to get rid of the disorientating feeling. She still felt alarmed at the fact she had seen the cat, even though it wasn’t really there.

She heard Willow speak next to her. “Are you okay, Luz?”

“Yes, I was just a little startled,” she replied, feeling a little more there. But she had a feeling she hadn’t slept that long, if at all. “I think I had a nightmare…” It had all been really strange. She rested her head down on her arms again, quickly falling into a deeper sleep.

No one bothered her, before she woke up on her own. Eda and Willow’s other dad were back again. Her neck and back felt horrible after sleeping like that. The rest of them looked tired too. She was aware of how tired she must have looked after just waking up.

She watched the others for a little bit; her mouth hung slightly open in her tired state of mind. She usually didn’t feel like that after sleeping. She stretched out a little, before getting up on her legs. “Did everything go well?” she asked.

“It went as well as it could.” Eda’s reply was cold. _Right, I forgot the promise earlier._ “Assuming everything went well back here too?”

Luz shrugged; she wouldn’t know. “I think so.”

“Maybe we should get something to eat.” That sounded like a good idea.

Luz fell asleep together with the others… well… she was on the floor; the rest had their beds. But that did make it easier for her to wake up at a reasonable time for her to sneak away unnoticed. Getting up from the floor as quietly as possible, she kept an eye on the others. The beds were laying in a row following the wall to take up less space.

She snuck out the room, but there was a ruffle of fabric shortly after. Somebody just woke up, but she couldn’t remember who laid in that bed. It wasn’t Eda, that was for sure. She just continued walking, hoping the other person wouldn’t care.

But from the sound of it; they were just silently following. _Alright, that has to be Willow…_ Any of the others would have stopped her immediately. But she didn’t want to turn around, at least, not before she was sure they were out of earshot of the others. And Willow wasn’t speaking up yet either.

After about a minute of being followed; she turned around. She was right on her assumption. “I’m just going to visit Gus,” she explained, before the girl even asked.

Willow nodded, before she walked up next to her.

Luz felt a bit unsure; did Willow want to go with her? She felt like it was pretty unusual for her, but she didn’t know her that well. “Do you want to come with?”

Willow thought about it for a few seconds. “I’m not really sure.” But she had that tone, she had used when she watered down how uncomfortable she was, back at Eda’s place. “Maybe I’ll just follow you to his room.”

“That would be nice! Because I don’t remember where it is…”

Willow obviously made her way around very quickly, and Luz tried to remember where the specific turns lead to. But she wasn’t doing that well. She was sure she was going to get it… eventually.

But it didn’t matter much at that moment. They went up to look into the room, not wanting to risk just barging in, just in case there was somebody other than him in there. Luckily, there wasn’t. He just sat looking at some paper, scribbling something from time to time. He looked very focused on the paper.

He had something stuck into his ear. Maybe both of them, but Luz couldn’t really see it from that angle. The thing in his ear was connected to the other thing he had used for light, when they had been outside.

The two of them climbed back down the ladder, walking over to the entrance to his room. “See you later, Willow,” she whispered, before opening up the entrance.  
But the girl followed after her. “What are you doing?”

Willow hesitated, standing in the middle of the entrance. “I think I should give him a chance…” But, again, she really didn’t look comfortable with her own words. “You trust him…” She paused for a bit. “And I feel like I should trust that you know who to trust.”

There were a few more seconds of silence. “But you don’t trust him,” replied Luz, it was more important to her that Willow wasn’t scared. “It’s fine that you don’t.”

Willow took a step back into the walls, looking relieved. “You can find your way back, right?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “But I won’t get completely lost.”

It was strange to see natural light again. It was still early by the looks of it, or it was cloudy… could be either. But she was pretty sure it was the latter, when she thought about it more.

She wasn’t sure how to approach him. Tapping him on the feet seemed like a really bad idea. Even if she could trust him; she couldn’t necessarily trust that he wouldn’t accidently step on her. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. _Nope, I do not want to die like that._ Again, she shivered.

But she also didn’t want to try to get up on the desk… She groaned, realizing it was her only option.

But she actually hit the edge on the first try. She let out a gasp. _I did it!_ She was quick to use her burst of excitement to climb some of the way up. But the farther up she got, the more she could feel that she definitely should have slept longer.

But despite that she eventually managed to hoist herself up and roll onto his desk. She looked up at Gus; who surprisingly hadn’t noticed her yet. She stood and watched him for a couple seconds. He looked back and forth from the thing he had used for light and the paper.

After she stepped a little closer, his gaze finally fell in her. He did a double take, before ripping the weird things out of his ears. Luz was surprised to hear music coming from them, but it stopped after he pressed something on the light-thing. “Hi!” he greeted, keeping his voice relatively quiet for his excitement.

“Hi,” she greeted back.

He glanced back at his door. “I should probably go lock that,” he thought out loud. It probably wouldn’t be good to suddenly have someone come barging in.  
He stood up to go do what he said.

Once he was back over there again, Luz had figured out what to say. “I was thinking you could help me figure out who owns the cat?” It was clearly a pet; animals didn’t grow bells. She couldn’t really understand what beans could like about cats, but they also kept those weird long lizards in their homes. _Snakes…_ she corrected herself. But that wasn’t the point. If they could figure out where the cat lived, it would be easier to track down where her mom could have gone.

 _But what if she has moved towards the cat unknowingly?_ She didn’t want to think the cat had caught her mom, but it was still likely. Luz hadn’t managed to outrun it… and she had been carrying nothing. She would never know if it had caught her… _Assuming that it would-_ She did not want to finish the thought; it made her feel sick.

“Oh, sure! I have seen one of the farther away neighbors carry the cat inside.” That snapped Luz out her thoughts. “So either she’s a cat thief, or that’s where it lives.”

He seemed to find what he said funny, but Luz did not like thinking more about the cat. “Okay… would you mind to help me get outside again?”

“Not at all!” he replied, but his brow furrowed shortly after. “I just can’t hold you in my hands… My dad is home… Would you be alright with being carried in a pocket? Jacket pocket; not pants pocket.”

Luz nodded. “It’s fine with me.”

He put on his jacket, that was hanging right beside the door, before placing his hand down on the table. The sleeves covered some of his hand. He tried to adjust it, but it just slid back down again. When Luz had climbed on, he carefully brought his hand over to his pocket. She managed to climb in with only a little trouble. It was surprisingly not too bad to be in there.

When they were back outside; Luz stuck her head out of his pocket. She waited for him to place his hand next to it, so she could get out. After a few seconds or so; he did.

“So, do you think it’s better I go back inside or…?” He questioned, after helping her back down on the ground.

“No, I don’t think I’m going to find my mom today… I’m just going to try to look around.” That was her plan. And she really didn’t want to be alone, after what had happened with the cat. “I would actually like it, if you followed me.” _I don’t have a home to keep secret anymore either way…_ It hurt to think about; mostly because it meant that her mom wasn’t there. She just wanted her back.

 _I will get back to her…_ But she could feel a bit of hope draining. It had felt harder to be optimistic ever since the thought about the cat. Her breath hitched as the imagery from earlier hit her again, before she looked up at Gus. “Which way did you say the cat lives?”

He looked back at his own house quickly. “Somewhere over on the left side of the house,” he replied, pointing in said direction.

Luz nodded; she was still going to check the old home first. Just in case she had missed something last time. She looked up at the trees, seeing how gray the sky was behind them. She wondered, if it was going to rain. The air wasn’t too wet yet, but there was no telling, if it would suddenly change. That did make her think about the question she had had on her mind last night. With the sky and all.

“How exactly do you beans decide when to sleep?” She was pretty sure it might be the same way she did; just whenever she felt tired.

“That differs… Usually it depends on when you have to work,” he said with a shrug. “Some people work at night, but most work in the daytime.”

That was nearly exactly how borrowers did it too. Except most where probably more active at night. At least house borrowers. That was definitely something Luz could say she was done with now. Her mom had been right; she couldn’t be one. But Luz didn’t really care about that anymore; she would rather just be with her mom again.

She began running towards her old home once again; feeling how freeing it was to not be stuck inside the walls. She really didn’t like it, despite how much warmer it was in there. There wasn’t anything to dislike about the way the air of the outside felt in her lungs outside. Especially not when compared to inside the stuffy walls.

Gus was following after her with slow and careful steps. She could hear the difference from when he had walked earlier; there had been more of a thud to them. She didn’t like how small it made her feel. Even though she knew she was small; being that close to a bean made it more apparent.

Getting closer to her old home, something felt strange about it. She could exactly put her finger on it, but something was different… She was sure it was the right place, but something felt off. Her ears twitched, despite there not being any noises. It was something visual that was wrong.

It blended in with the yellowish-orange leaves pretty well, but there was definitely something hiding on the other side of the tree’s roots.

Something from that direction swished past her; hitting Gus in the leg.

He let out a startled shout, before he swore loudly and stumbled backwards in surprise. It was an arrow. One that had hit him with enough force to go about a centimeter into his leg. It looked painful.

“Are you okay?” Luz cried out in surprise; she didn’t even think about who had shot him.

He sat down looking at the thing that had pierced his leg. He winced, as a bit of blood started to trickle from the slightly-deep-but-not-wide wound. “I would not say that.” He looked a little faint, while he watched more blood flow out. “This hurts more than it looks like…” A few tears fell from the corners of his eyes. “Ouch.”

Luz winced too. _It must be in there deep… Even for a bean._ But attention was turned back to whoever had shot the arrow at him. The borrower sat, Luz assumed crouched, behind the tree root; watching them. A leaf was covering their back. She had never seen them before… The person had shot Gus. The realization made Luz took a step back. _How many arrows do they have?_

They had a quiver of arrows strung over their shoulder. There seemed to be about five more, but, at that moment, the person just watched. Luz watched, as they drew another arrow, before she spoke up. “Wait! Don’t shot him!” It might not have been fatal, but it clearly hurt.

The person didn’t listen; they just drew back the string. Luz took a couple steps to the side; the arrow wasn’t aimed at her, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hit the wrong person on accident. Especially if she moved towards them. She would have to wait until they fired.

The second arrow hit too. A little above the last one; it didn’t go quite as deep in, given it had to go through the fabric of his pants. But he did scramble back. “What’s happening? Who’s doing this?”

Luz ran towards the person; trying to get to them, before they drew another arrow. But before she could get close enough to even try to stop them; they had another arrow loaded and pointed straight at Luz.

“Hey now, let’s not do anything too drastic…” Luz could feel her heart pounding in her chest, hoping the other person wouldn’t shoot. But being closer to them; she could see how cold and uncaring the look in their eyes was. “Please, I’m just looking for my mom…”

For a second their eyes widened in surprise, but they didn’t lower their weapon. They remained quiet, glancing up at Gus. _Of course, Eda mentioned that one rule…_ That borrower must have been trying to follow it. They aimed the bow to the ground, as they stopped pulling back the string. Luz could tell they mouthed some words, but not what she was trying to say.

“I don’t understand,” said Luz, but the borrower gestured to follow them. “Absolutely not!” She couldn’t stop herself from shouting it. She was not going to follow the person that just threatened to shoot her. But the borrower drew their arrow again, making it clear Luz didn’t have a choice…

She contemplated shouting for Gus to help, but if he couldn’t do that in time; she could be dead in a second. Or as good as dead, at least. She looked back over at Gus; unsure of what to do. _I’ll get back to him somehow. Maybe I can talk my way out of it?_ She highly doubted that, but she could at least try it.

The borrower kept the arrow on the string, as they backed away. Luz followed them, making sure to keep her distance and not get shot. “Where are you going?” She could hear Gus’ panicked voice ask somewhere behind her.

The other borrower took another arrow from the quiver, before shooting the loaded one at Gus. They quickly put the next one on the string; aiming it at Luz. “I’m not doing anything!” she shouted in surprise, holding her hands up. The borrower gave her a quick, judging, look, before they continued to back away.

Luz followed after them, when the other borrower finally lowered their bow; Luz just stood and stared. They scowled at her, before running over and grabbing ahold of her arm. “Come with me,” they whispered. Luz noticed their voice was feminine. The woman began running away from Gus, and forced Luz to do the same.

But not long after; the threatening borrower dragged Luz with her into a bush. “What were you doing with a bean?” the borrower snarled. “Do you not know how dangerous they are?”

Luz tried to wrestle her arm out of her grasp. “Hey! You were the one threatening to _shot_ me!” It didn’t make sense; why would she threaten to shot her, if she had her well being in mind? “Let go off me!” She fell onto the ground, as the other borrower did what she asked.  
She looked up at her face. She looked a lot like Eda… except for some small differences. Her hair was more reddish, curled and _way_ shorter, about Luz's length, but other than that; her and Eda's faces looked very alike. “What do you even want?” she asked, sounding more hostile than she meant to.

She watched her with those same cold eyes. “You said you wanted to find your mom, didn’t you?”

Despite everything that had happened, Luz perked up. “Have you seen her?” Maybe she could get back to her mother already? She and her mom could be back together soon! “Her name is Camila! And we used to live right over there!” She pointed to her old home while speaking.

But the other borrower’s expression didn’t change. “Slow down,” demanded the older borrower in her cold tone. “What is your name?”

Luz paused, before getting up on her legs. Something about the borrower’s attitude made her cautious to tell her. “I’m Luz…”

The borrower nodded. “Lilith,” she said. Luz did not like the way she looked down at her. The look lasted a couple more seconds, before Lilith spoke up again, “but if you want my help, there is something I need to ask you.”

“After threatening me?” Luz blurted out. She didn’t think the borrower was going to pull her weapon again, but an arrow was aimed straight at her chest again. “I’m sorry; what is it?”

Lilith lowered her bow. “I need to find my sister,” she continued. “Do you by any chance know an Edalyn?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating check: Is the blood and threatening a little too much for a gen? I'm not really sure... The story is actually surprisingly edgy for a borrower au.
> 
> Anyways... we all know Lilith wouldn't be opposed to killing a child, so I think this is pretty in character for her. (I'm still salty)  
> Why is she looking for Eda? I don't know. Not because it's a spoiler, literally just because I don't know. I did not think I would have introduced Lilith, before Luz properly met Amity, but here we are! ... *sighs*
> 
> Also just so it's a bit more clear; Luz was trying to avoid the thought of the cat having eaten her mom. Not calling you guys/gals/pals stupid; I just like to jot down everything so there's no doubt. Because *I* don't want to feel stupid.
> 
> And a bit of an important note; the reason Luz is so out of character is because I tried to write an adhd character instead of write *Luz* It wasn't on purpose; I promise, but that was what happened. I was so focused on writing her to be ADHD that I forgot to make her herself. And the adhd thing is also the reason she has so many thoughts at once and weird thought patterns. Like when she went from: I wonder, if it's going to rain...- to -when do you beans prefer to sleep?  
> I just thought I should apologize for the way I've been writing her; I'm aware it's insensitive, to her as a character, to only focus on that. So... sorry about that.
> 
> Gave Lilith short hair btw. Also I might be discontinuing the story and starting from scratch. Clarifications next and possibly last chapter... Sorry. The chapter will be out before the 5th of december.
> 
> And happy halloween!


	10. Secrets and Snooping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilith warms up to Luz surprisingly quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry. I can't write anymore for this; I'm sorry. I feel horrible for it. And I don't like the story either. Nobody feels in character and I'm going crazy with self-hatred and insecurities... I don't know what to do, but this is the end for now... Maybe I can eventually continue this, but I doubt it...
> 
> I'd appreciate it, if you could give a full review of the story in the comments (good and bad parts) I just really need to your real and detailed thoughts about the story... Maybe why you would like me to continue it? I don't know I don't think people really care about it at all. And btw unregistered users and guest *can* comment on my work, if you don't have an account.
> 
> This is probably the worst Christmas present you readers have ever gotten... lol. But actually, I'm sorry; I can't continue this... More detail will be on the end note. But for now, I can say; it's not the last I'll write of *a* TOH borrower AU. I have made a decision for this to be the last of this story.

Luz was still getting over her shock of the bow having been aimed at her again. “Uh, I do; she lives over in the nearest houses…” She wasn’t really sure what to say to her… there was no way the other borrower could get in. “But there might be a little bit of a problem…” She had a feeling that Lilith wouldn’t trust Gus. And that Gus wouldn’t want to let her in the house.

“What is that?” She kept her bow lowered for once. But something in her eyes told Luz that she still wouldn’t hesitate to shot.

“The bean is the only way you can in and out.” She hoped Lilith wasn’t going to think she was lying. “There used to be at least one way in, _but_ the beans recently covered it up.” She could nearly feel the frustration of the other borrower. Luz felt like she was going to shoot her at any moment. She cowered. “Please don’t get mad at me.”

But surprisingly, the borrower put the arrow back in the quiver. She looked like she was thinking over Luz’s words. Luz still didn’t like the way she was looking down at her while she thought. She looked like she was trying to intimidate her.

Luz shifted on her feet. “Sooo… have you seen my mom?” She sounded a lot more nervous than she wanted to, but she couldn’t help it. Lilith _was_ scary.

“I saw another borrower in the distance yesterday…” Lilith took a closer look at Luz, making her want to back away. “I would say she did look like you, but I didn’t get a close look.”

Luz’s felt a wave of joy, but it retreated, when she realized how far away her mom could have gotten. _Yesterday… that’s a long time to get farther away._ At least assuming she hadn’t found a good place to stay. But that had to be hard… It was a pretty convenient place Luz had lived before. The only problem was the cat, and that hadn’t been there long. “Where was she going?” she hoped that her mom hadn’t moved towards that beast.

“Assuming she didn’t change course; she was heading that way.” Lilith pointed to the opposite way of where Gus had told Luz the cat lived.

Luz felt relieved, but it was short lived. Her mom not going that way didn’t mean that she wasn’t able to be caught by a whole bunch of other animals. Luz just had to hope that none of them found her mom. Being on the move was always dangerous. There wasn’t always a safe place to hide nearby… Luz wished she had been with her mom. _But, of course, I had to run off._ It hurt to think about. Everything about it made her feel horrible. It seemed like her worrying was coming back at her again.

Lilith snapped her out of her dark thoughts. “But you’re sure that there is no other way into the house?”

Luz couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Her head was so crowded; it made her feel crazy. There were so many different emotions in her head and none of them made sense. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh,” she quickly apologized, holding her hands up in alarm. But the other borrower wasn’t arming herself, like she had expected. To Luz’s surprise once again; the look in her eyes softened. “But, no, not according to Eda.”

“Well, I guess I have shot my only way in.” Her guard seemed to be dropping around Luz, as gave a small sad chuckle. “How am I supposed to get in now?”

Luz felt unsure of what to think about her. _She threatened to shoot me…_ That definitely wasn’t okay. “I mean… I bit him when we first met. He still helped me.” She knew it wasn’t the same as getting shot with three arrows, but maybe he could give her a chance. “But…” Luz wasn’t really sure how to ask it, “I thought you said beans weren’t to be trusted? What’s with the turnaround?”

Lilith hesitated, before answering her question, “beans are unpredictable, but if it’s the only way to get back to my sister; I’ll do it.” She looked up at the yellowing leaves of the bush. She looked back down at Luz after a few seconds of that. “I’m sorry for threatening you earlier; I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

Luz nodded, feeling the pit of anxiousness in her stomach growing smaller. That was a relief. Hopefully she could trust that she wouldn’t turn around on that. “I’m going to go find Gus… Or, you know, the bean,” she said, turning back in the direction that they had left Gus. She had to hope he was still there. _He wouldn’t leave me out here_ … _Would he?_

He hadn’t left her; he still sat and stared at the arrows still in his leg. “Gus!” called Luz.  
He looked down to her. Tears were running down his cheeks, making Luz feel bad about what she was about to ask him. “Uh, I’m really sorry about what happened to you…” She wasn’t sure how to say it. “I didn’t expect there would be anybody here. Much less someone with a bow and arrows!” She realized she was about to go completely of topic, if she continued on her rant. “But… The person needs to get into the house.”

He dried the tears off. “Into the house? Why?” He sniffed, but he didn’t look sad; just alarmed.

Luz hesitated. “I’m not sure if I can tell you that…” Most likely none of the others wanted that. Especially not Eda… She was going to respect her wishes. She thought about how to explain it. Willow had been there when they were caught… And Gus had to know she was unable to leave. “You remember that other girl that was with me, right?”

Gus nodded, before his face changed to worry. “Is she doing better? I feel like I was way too rough with you two…” He looked away from Luz, before he winced and looked down at his leg. Luz winced too; a tiny bit of blood had stained his pants around where the second arrow hit.

“She’s uh…” Luz wasn’t sure how much she could tell him. She wasn’t entirely sure how Willow was doing after what happened. “I don’t think it’s directly your fault, but she’s not… the happiest…” She shook her head, before getting back on track. “Wait, what did you ask me again?” It had slipped her mind, while they talked.

“Why does the other person need to get into the house?”

“Right, that was it.” But then the problem from before reappeared. “I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you, sorry.” She didn’t want to keep stuff secret from him, but she also didn’t want to reveal the others in fear of losing their trust more than she already had. “It’s not because I don’t trust you! I do! I just can’t tell you anything….” She realized even just bringing Willow up had been a bad idea. “But you will help the person, right?”

Gus looked down at his leg. “Do you think they will shoot me again?” His eyes widened. “You’re sure they aren’t going to hurt you either? I couldn’t see them that well, before you two ran, but it looked like they were about to shoot you!”

She, once again, couldn’t tell him anything that wouldn’t involve the others. She really didn’t want to break the others trust; no matter how little the amount of it was. “I think the person is alright… I’m sorry, Gus, I really can’t tell you any more than that…” Her ears drooped at all the conflicting feelings in her. On one hand, she did trust Gus, but on the other, she was the only one that did.

He nodded hesitantly. “I understand, but… I’m not sure if I should be letting _more_ borrowers into the house.”

Her ear flicked, not believing the words she just heard. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Luz couldn’t stop herself from huffing. That definitely didn’t sound very friendly-meant. “I’m supposed to leave anyways!” She got more irritated with him; her ears pressed back against her head.

“I’m sorry! It’s just…” he paused, thinking over his words. “I mean, you are obviously people and all that, but that does make you thieves too… You _are_ stealing from us.”

Luz took a moment to take that in. Beans had so much of everything, yet he still complained about them taking so little it was barely noticeable? And she didn’t like being called a thief. “It’s not like you even notice it!” she replied, a bit snappier than she meant to, as she threw her arms out. She crossed her arms, and gave him a disapproving look. “I don’t think it’s fair of you to think that!”

“I didn’t mean anything by it!” He held his hands up defensively, like he had done the last times she had met up with him. “It’s just that… if you want to be viewed as equals, shouldn’t your actions be viewed equally too?”

Her ears raised a bit, as she thought about his words. She was not at all happy with what he had said at all, but she didn’t want to say something too drastic. “But we aren’t seen as equals…” That definitely made a difference. But a new thought popped into her head. _How much would it take for that? For us to be equals?_ _What_ made beans think of them as lesser? She snapped out of it. _We are never going to be equals._ “If we were, we wouldn’t have to live like that.” But the thought had sent Luz into daydreaming mode. Maybe, in another world, they could have their own houses, and live like them, except for their size difference.

Gus looked away for a couple seconds. “Well, that’s not really my point… My point is that I don’t know if I should be bringing the person in.”

Luz was about to continue the argument with him, but it was better to pick it up later. If ever. “They have a good reason for it!” The look in Lilith’s eyes when she had said she was willing to go with Gus, told Luz that her sister meant a lot to her. “I just can’t tell you that reason…” Gus was a good person at heart, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t say some wrong things. Luz knew that, and she still trusted him. Not because she had to; she knew she wasn’t wrong about him. “Please, they really need to get in.”

He sighed, rubbing his arm. “I guess I can do it for you… I just feel a little weird about it…”

Luz managed to get Lilith to follow her back to Gus after a few minutes of hesitation. She clearly tried to pretend not to be scared. But Luz could see through it. She hid her fear as distrust, which it might have been mixed with, but the woman was definitely mostly scared. “He’s really nice!” assured Luz, standing beside Gus’ hand.

But Gus’ reluctant look definitely didn’t help the situation. Lilith stared at him with a distrustful eye, but ultimately got onto his hand.

Luz climbed on too, being the first to climb into his pocket. The woman followed after her. It felt a little more cramped in the pocket with another person. She definitely didn’t want to sit too close to the borrower, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She felt nervous watching her bow and arrows _. I wonder if the arrows in Gus’ leg are still useable…_ Luz shook her head, a bit weirded out by her thought. _That doesn’t matter._

Gus helped both of them out of his pocket, when he was in his room. He let them walk off his hand, before he walked back to the door. “I got to go clean up the wounds… I’ll leave the arrows under my bed, if you still want them…” He winced, but quickly composed himself. “See you another time, Luz.”

Luz waved, “Yeah, see you!” She wasn’t angry with him anymore; there wasn’t much point in the argument either way. He had already let Lilith in, so she didn’t have much reason to be angry. She wasn’t happy with what he said, but it didn’t matter much to her.

He gave a quick wave back, before he left the room.

Luz turned to the other borrower; she seemed conflicted, as she watched the door. She looked at Luz, still having that distrustful look in her eyes. “Why are you so confident in your trust in him?”

“Because I like him,” said Luz with a smile. But it faded as she continued. “And he saved me from a cat. I would have been dead, if it wasn’t for him.” The memory was a little hard to think about, but she was incredibly thankful that he did all that and was still helping her out. And that he helped Lilith too. “But most importantly, because I like him.”

The borrower gave her a small smile, but it didn’t seem entirely genuine. She looked away from her again. “How do we get into the walls?” Her tone was low, but non-threatening; she sounded sad.

Luz chose to ignore her sad tone, pointing over to the entrance. “Right over here!” She realized she would have to quiet down again, unless she wanted to be caught by someone not as kind as Gus. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I mean, follow me, it’s right over here.”

She took the lead, letting her follow after her. “So…” began Luz. “There is something I need to tell you, before we get to your sister… It’s not too important, but I’d like for you to know that there are three other borrowers living with her at the moment.” Luz opened up the entrance, before continuing. “It’s because of the whole situation with Gus… They think it’s safer to stay on that side of the house.”

Luz gave a quick glance back at her, noticing her raise her eyebrows, before Lilith spoke. “You make it sound like it’s not.”

“It isn’t.” Luz ears drooped. What had happened to Willow must have been horrible. “I heard that the beans there are really bad… Or maybe just worse than Gus.” She didn’t know how bad “bad” was, or if the beans there was the standard. “But it’s definitely not a good place to stay…”

Luz still had a hard time comprehending that most beans really were that bad. Everybody she knew seemed to have had a traumatic encounter with a bean… Even Luz herself, to some extent, when she thought about it. Luz turned around, walking backwards. “I know this is probably a sensitive question… but how did you and your sister get away from each other?”

Lilith’s ears flicked back in annoyance. “I just met you, and you expect me to tell you that?”

“No, not at all,” she replied in a hurry, “but, you know, you never know until you try it.” She shrugged, before continuing. “Maybe you could have been extremely open about it.” It was stupid to expect that of a borrower. Luz was probably the only exception to a known rule. And even still keeping secrets was important to her. “Actually, do you want to know what happened between me and another bean?”

“You know more than one?”

“ _Not_ exactly… But I have seen her around a couple times, even before I moved in here.” Luz thought back to being out in the forest. Specifically, the girls she had seen from time to time. But mostly about Amity’s interactions with the “friends” she had. Sometimes they seemed to actually be having fun, but most of the time, Amity soured around them. Or maybe she was just like that. Luz found her interesting to watch; there had been something about her that intrigued her. “Anyways, do you want to know?”

“Sure, if you feel comfortable telling me.”

“It’s no big deal!” exclaim Luz, a little louder than she meant it, before she started her story. “I guess I was being a little dumb that day… I wasn’t really sure what to expect; it was my first day here, so, you know… It didn’t go that well.” _Was that an understatement? No, it could have gone worse._ “I went out while Eda was sleeping, because I was bored.”

“That was stupid of you,” said Lilith, stating the obvious. “You should have known there was a reason that she slept at that time.”

Luz tried not to take offends to that, but her ears pressed back against her head, as she turned back around. “Like I said I know I was being dumb, but I’m from the forest, you know?” Luz wasn’t really sure how saying that was supposed to help, but she felt like she needed to defend herself in _some_ way. “Either way, I decided to have a look around the kitchen. But because it was… I don’t know the time, but there was somebody in there.”

She paused trying to recall what exactly had happened. It had been a bit of a shock. “I think she yelled something about cupboards and sugar?” She thought about it a bit more. “Or wait, no, first I listened if there was anybody in there. And I know it was stupid of me, but I looked to see who it could be.”

Lilith didn’t chime in by calling her stupid again. Luz was thankful that she didn’t; she never liked being mocked. “Continue.”

“Oh, right.” Luz hadn’t meant to pause for that long. Either that or Lilith wasn’t very patient. “Then I saw the girl… And I know this isn’t going to mean a lot to you, but I recognized her as the scary girl I had seen out in the forest. I quickly ducked back down, but I could hear her walking towards me. And for a couple of seconds I really thought she had seen me.”

“I assume she didn’t?”

Luz’s voice froze in her throat remembering what had happened. But after a few seconds she spoke up again. “I think she almost did…” But maybe it was just the panic of the moment that made her misremember. “But I realized she didn’t, when she opened the cupboard. And that was when she yelled what she yelled…” Luz shivered at the thought at what had happened. “She slammed it shut; I barely managed not to scream…”  
She turned around to look at the redheaded borrower. “That was a pretty scary moment, but I’m doing a little better now. And, uh, I’d like it if you didn’t tell anyone else about this… They already don’t trust me, so...” She left the sentence unfinished; she was pretty sure the other borrower got it.

Lilith nodded. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

“Like I said, it’s no big deal!” Luz turned back around, hoping that she wasn’t going to get her and Lilith lost. “Now, let’s get you back to your sister!”

Luz couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable the older borrower seemed, as they walked around the walls. Luz took a moment to decide, if she should ask. “Is something wrong?”

The other borrower looked into her eyes. She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say something, but she quickly closed it again. She looked away from Luz, before speaking up. “I’m worried about what my sister will think of me after all these years…” She paused, looking unsure. “We have been separated for years…”

Luz ears perked up. Lilith was actually opening up to her? She couldn’t believe it. “I’m sure it’ll be fine! Your sister means a lot to you.”

Lilith continued to look away. “Yes, she does…” she looked over at Luz after a couple seconds. “But I’m worried I don’t mean anything to her anymore.”

“Well, you can only find out by talking to her…” Luz recognized the ladder to the kitchen. “But we’re almost there.” She made sure to keep her voice quiet, feeling a little unnerved after having told the story. When she listened, she could hear somebody talking up there. It sounded like the person Amity had yelled. _Ed_ , she recalled. Or Edric, as Eda had called him.

Her ear twitched, as she froze in her tracks for a moment. “I’m just starting to get a little concerned…” Concerned about what? Her ears twitched again, curious to hear the rest of the conversation.

A voice she hadn’t heard before spoke up, “like I said, I’m sure it’s nothing! She’s probably just being an edgy kid… Like when we went through our emo phases.”

“Hey, you promised not to mention it!” He sounded a bit offended, but his tone soon changed. “But she has been like this for so long… I’m just worried about Amity… What if it’s our fault? She used to be so much happier.” Edric’s voice squeaked; he sounded like he was about to cry.

Luz realized that conversation was definitely not something she should be listening in on. And just as she thought that, Lilith tapped her on the shoulder. Lilith spoke as quietly, as she could. “We should keep moving.”

Luz nodded. She felt embarrassed about eavesdropping on the beans. Something about the conversation felt like it wasn’t any of her business. But she couldn’t help thinking it over. _What is their fault? Is anything their fault?_ Despite herself; she was worried about that Amity once again. _I hope she’s alright…_ She used to be happy… _Maybe that is why she is so mean?_ It wouldn’t excuse it, but it could be an explanation.

Luz shook her head. It was nothing for her to concern herself about… For now, she should get back to the others.

She was starting to feel anxious too. Lilith’s nervousness to meet her sister was rubbing off on her. “I’ll just go in there first…” said Luz. “I’ll wake her up, and get her to follow me out to you. Wouldn’t want Eda to be startled by her long-lost sister standing in front of her.”

The older borrower forced a small smile, before sitting up against the wall. She looked a little out of it. Luz looked at her for a second, before she turned around and walked into the room.

Willow was still awake, looking up at her. She was alarmed, looking between Luz and the exit, but she didn’t speak. Luz knew what she was thinking. She had definitely heard Luz and the other borrower talk. “I’ll explain in a moment…” Hearing what Willow had just overheard had to be confusing.

She woke Eda up gently, but Eda wasn’t happy about it. Luz began talking, “I know this is going to sound really strange, but…” she wasn’t sure how to say it. “Actually, I think it’s a little easier if you follow me.” Luz felt like she couldn’t just say that her sister was back. “It’s going to be a bit of a shock… so just be prepared.”

She looked confused and tired. “You make it sound like you have done something horrible.”

Luz realized that, when she pointed it out. “I guess, it does sound like that… But I don’t think I have!” 

Eda expression immediately change from tired to bewildered. “You don’t think?”

Luz looked back over at Willow, who looked over at them. She had the same half-confused and half-alarmed look. “What is going on?” She asked nervously, glancing over at her dads.

“In a moment,” repeated Luz. It was more important that Eda got to see her sister first.

Luz felt herself grow more nervous, as she led Eda out to her sister. What _was_ she going to think? Had this been the right move? “Uh, there was someone that wanted to meet you.” Luz’s ears shifted towards Eda, while Luz spoke.

Luz moved a bit out of the way as she saw Lilith. Her ears twitch, before turning to Luz and Eda. Eventually she looked up at them. Lilith was at a loss for words, as she stared at her sister.

Luz backed away out of respect for the two; she didn’t want to get in the way of their reunion.

“Eda…” Lilith looked up at her sister in disbelief; she looked to be on the verge of tears. She looked like she was speaking, but only after sometime the words came out. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

Eda stood in disbelief too; clearly unsure of what to make of it all. But a small smile spread across her face. She cast a glance back at Luz, with a raised eyebrow.

Luz carefully took a step more back. This was their moment; she should leave them alone. She felt a little proud that she had helped out the two sisters. She couldn’t imagine how much it would mean to them to finally be together again.

Lilith spoke up again, “I know you’re not much for contact, but-” She was cut off by Eda pulling her into a tight hug. “Oh.” Was all she had to say, before she returned the hug.

Luz finally turned around, smiling at the two’s reunion. She hadn’t done something horrible! For the second time, it had paid off to trust Gus. How else would those two ever get to see each other? It made her feel a burst of confidence. She had been right, once again.

Willow stared at her, as she walked in. “What just happened?”

Luz beamed at her. “I found Eda’s sister while I was out,” she tried to keep her tone quiet, still excited at the fact she had managed to do that. But she thought back to what had happened. “She did threaten to shoot me, but we’re over that now.”

Willow looked at her with disbelief. “You’re just the unluckiest lucky borrower, aren’t you?” she said it with smile.

Luz smiled wider. “You could say that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Amity never even got introduced... I did not expect that from me. I might pick this back up, if I feel like it, but for now; I think I would rather start it over as a *way* less serious story. It's going to be more along the lines of... the actual show. So I might start it of way more low-stake, even in dangerous situations, and then move towards high-stake situations. I'll try to keep it more in character and change Gus from bean to borrower. It makes more sense. The only reason I did it the opposite way, was because I wanted him to be fascinated by Luz, which I messed up.
> 
> Anyways, basically, I'm getting back on track with how I originally planned it (with the story begin less serious) It's going to be weeks before I post anything again, if not months. I'm making a proper plan this time and getting everything thought through. I will not mess up like this again (that's a promise to myself, even if you readers don't think I screwed it up)
> 
> King is going to be in the rewrite. I have a drawing of his borrower AU design on my DeviantArt, but I'd rather not share that... It has a lot of old embarrassing art... And just stuff I don't want to talk about... Anyways, I'll get it posted to my Tumblr, and when I do get the new story written, I'll put the image in the story itself. He calls himself the king of rodents, instead of the king of demons.
> 
> I think if I myself can get myself to like the story I might continue it. But that's highly unlikely. So despite this being a bit of a let-down; enjoy the holidays! 
> 
> And I would absolutely love to hear what you thought about my story in a proper review, if you have the time. I can take harsh criticism too, so be as mean as you like. Don't worry about saying the wrong thing; I have guaranteed told myself something 100x worse. I want your honest opinions. It's fine, if you can't; I understand, I'm not good with that stuff either! I'd just really really really appreciate it, if you did! <3


	11. I completely lost passion for the project...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I lost passion for the project; what else is there to say?

I'm really embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes that's just how it is... I'm not built for long ongoing chaptered stories. I'm built for oneshots and explorations of short different ideas and tropes! Something that can easily be converted from a couple drawings to words! Like how I wrote Worrying and Growing Feelings (although I will admit that growing feelings was the worst written story out of all of these, but it was on purpose. It was a low quality story. A practice story)

The point is that I'm actually not going to write anything more for this. Not a oneshot or a new chapter for the fic; it's done. It's over. I'm not writing for this anymore and it feels good to have it said. I will not ever promise anything again. And if I do; prepare to be let down. I will make more G/t TOH content. Be it drawings or writing. That promise I CAN keep. I love G/t and I love the owl house!

I want to talk about some of the plot points I wanted to hit. The first thing being Luz and Amity's first-time meeting. It was a few chapters ahead, but I never wrote a word past. "I guess you could say that" or whatever I ended the story on. I had a couple different scenarios in mind.

  1. Luz and Amity just stare at each other, trying to figure out what to do.



Amity's thoughts: _not again! NONONO! I can't let them get hurt! What am I going to do? We have borrowers living here and they are sealed in!_ (Amity knows about that, but it was never going to be relevant, since it's Luz's pov)

Luz's thoughts: _Oh no! Not her! What should I do? Can I get away before she catches me? Is she going to hurt me? She hasn't done anything yet... Maybe I can get away? But how do I know she won't tell anyone? I need to make sure she doesn't! I need to talk with her..._ "Uh, hi?" said Luz with a careful smile.

Haven't really thought that much about it...

  1. Luz is injured somehow (Long fall, or somehow a rat escaped and tried to maul her. Anything really, as long as she’s stuck until she gets help) ((possibly needed to change the rating for this scenario, if it was a rat))



Luz was weak from her injuries and she knew she couldn't make it back to the hole in time. The footsteps beyond the door were thunderingly loud in her sensitive ears. She desperately clung to the hope that the bean wasn't going to enter the room, but there was already the sound of the door handle turning. She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to look when Amity found her... Her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest as the door shut and the light was clicked on. She could hear everything, yet at the same time nothing but her own terrified heartbeat.

There was a gasp above her. The bean had seen her. Obviously she had; Luz was lying in the middle of the floor, with an injured arm and leg. A surprising amount of time passed, before a hand scooped her up into its grasp. She waited for the crushing pressure of a tightly closed fist, but it never came.

Luz hesitantly opened her eyes. She _was_ lying in a bean's hand, but nothing was happening.

Amity was wearing a single gray glove on the hand she was holding her in. "Please don't be scared; I'm going to help you."

Not really the most cheerful introduction, but I like it... Except for the fact that Luz won't really have the choice to leave for quite a bit.  
Amity is wearing the glove so Luz doesn't bite her. This Amity would definitely bite if she was grabbed by a giant... And she has good experience with getting bitten, because of her rats. (She doesn't wear the gloves when handling her rats, because they have to get used to non-gloved hands to not bite. But she knows borrowers aren't that dumb, so she wears a glove not to get bitten)

That's all the scenarios for there were for that scene. I also had a lead up for a scenario 3 where Gus runs into Amity and the rest of her girls outside the house, and Amity spots Luz, because she was poking her head out of his pocket. Then Luz would purposely seek out Amity to make sure she wasn't going to tell anybody. (Luz knows for a fact Amity saw her. Her eyes had widened and Luz wasn't the only one that noticed Amity's change in behavior. I'm not really sure where this one would be going though... I don't think this would have been the one I used)

Another scene I had in mind was the twins looking for Amity's diary, but in a not so mischievous way. It would still be a breach of privacy, but they are just trying to figure out what's wrong. And they planned to post her diary all over the school in the actual show, so it's not like they are above it.

Luz would be in the room, high up on a bookshelf (somehow, remember, I don't have any words written beyond the last words of last chapter) overhearing them trying to find Amity's diary. Since they are being so secretive about it, she knows that a diary is something private. Or, wait, she actually knows what it is, because it makes sense for borrowers to keep diaries. It has to be hard spending so much time by yourself, if you don't have anybody to live with... I'd imagine Camila having been alone for a few years before meeting Luz's dad, so she could have thought her about it. And someone had to know how to write and read to have taught Luz how to read and write. What did she write on? I'm not really sure.

(sidenote about Luz’s dad: he has to have disappeared before Luz was born or at least before she was able to remember him in this story)

Anyways, the point. Luz knows what a diary is and that this is a big breach of privacy. She feels conflicted for few seconds though, because they say it's for Amity's own good... But in the end, she decides to try and distract them to buy Amity some time to get back to her room. If this Amity person wanted them to know what was wrong Amity would let them know. Again, despite Luz being a bit unusual with how open she is; she respects other people's secrets. (ep 15 was because she was trying to make Willow and Amity friends again, and borrower Luz has been raised differently with secrets being more important and curiosity being dangerous)

She only takes a few seconds to decide to push a book down from the bookshelf. It's harder than she thought it would be, but the book was already close to falling, before she tried to knock it down. It doesn't take long before it falls to the ground with a crash, and Luz sprints back behind the books to hide.

The twins don't really know what happened. Edric does suspect it could be a borrower. Though Emira convinces him that it would be stupid for a borrower to knock an entire book down. (I don’t want to make the book she knocks down the diary, but it definitely could be an interesting twist on what happened in the show) Which it is, but Luz doesn't always make the safest decisions. So her own lack of self-preservation skills saved her from being found a second time.

The twins now feel a bit on edge. A book fell down; was that a sign that they shouldn’t be doing this? They aren’t superstitious, but this still make them give it a second thought. They eventually decide to at the very least put this off for another day. They had still would have time for finding the diary, if they looked around, but they didn’t.

Obviously, Luz was eventually going to find her mother, and I had planned for Eda and Lilith to have some Tragic Backstory™ that they were separated from each other, because one of them was captured at one point. Who? Who knows, but the person had deceived them.  
It was most likely Lilith who was deceived, but is still surprisingly trusting. That could also play into canon with her being manipulated, (and her being pretty naïve for working smarter) but the character who won (and betrayed) her trust obviously isn’t Belos. He doesn't exist in this story.

That brings me to the villain of the story. It’s the system itself, obviously. No singular ruler. Borrowers are treated as little more than pests, because they aren’t seen as having any value to society. How the people in the AU see borrowers is as thieves. But they are forced into living like this. They can’t meet up with the beans, because they are a threat to a lot of borrowers. But they can’t change the system, if they can’t meet up with the beans to get something started. And who would care what a borrower in this system has to say?

All the issues with the system wouldn’t be solved in Luz’s life time, sadly, but she was going to be a part of starting something big. How? I’m not sure, as I have said a couple times about different things now. But it was going to be a big thing eventually. At least that was the idea… There were a lot things that I never got to… Like getting more info about the snakes… Their names are Tapdancer (Tappy for short) and Mr. Watermelon. The twins named them like that to annoy younger Amity. She liked animals to have proper and fitting names. But it’s been over six years, and at this point it doesn’t annoy her anymore.

The snakes’ real names have always been “Slither” (a corn snake) and “Nosey” (a hognose) They just call them Tappy (which Amity knew what was short for) and Mr. Watermelon. Emira owns Slither and Edric owns Nosey.

Initially it was supposed to be Emira and Edric that had something to do with the reason that Willow knew that being kept as a pet was possible. But I’m not sure how that would work out anymore… I do think that it depends on what I was going to do… But I also changed my mind about having the twins being the ones that revealed Amity was friends with Willow…

It was just Amity accidentally telling her parents too much, the reason Willow doesn’t trust her is that she wasn’t listening when Amity was telling her to get out. So Amity had to pretend that she was never her friend and that she hated borrowers like her. And telling her that she had told her parents and somebody was coming to kill her family. (A half-truth, since she had _accidentally_ told her parents and they were planned to get rid of the borrower problem)

That’s pretty much all the important stuff and a little more. I’m sorry that I promised more than I could put out… I have a habit of doing that. Hopefully, people didn’t really care about my story. That’s both the good and the bad thing about being an unpopular writer. People don’t care about your writing. And I know I don’t deserve fame; my writing is niche and mediocre. I’m not good with writing funny interesting stories because I delve more in realism than fantasy and comedy.

Also lumity was going to be the main ship in the end. I wanted to try to write a G/t kiss and I couldn't do that if it was Willuz. But it's not really important anymore... That's just why I wanted it to be lumity... Willuz would be the best ship ever though, if it was going to be canon. I mean... (and I'm talking about almost canon show lumity) Rivals to friends to lovers is great, but what if we cut out rivals completely? That's the good stuff. Also when your future girlfriend hasn't bullied you friend that would be great.

Anyways… This is my goodbye for this story! I just wanted to send it off my explaining what I was planning. If I ever get the want to go back to it; I will, but I don’t see the point of the borrower AU at all. I just don’t want to write for it anymore ever.

It’s nobody’s fault but my own… I started a project that I couldn’t finished and promised another that I hadn’t even begun… And I’m really sorry to you readers. I really am. You deserved a better story… I hope someone will write a borrower au for you to read, but it won’t be me.

Well, goodbye… Maybe you’ll read some of my other works when I start writing again? Either way; I hope you have an amazing day and try to get the most out of it you can! <3


End file.
